A statue of a Boy Scout stands at the entrance to the Boy Scouts of America headquarters in Irving, Texas February 5, 2013. REUTERS/Tim Sharp

(Reuters) – Some insurers and victims of sexual abuse filed appeals on Thursday challenging the Boy Scouts of America’s $2.46 billion effort to finalize a settlement with more than 80,000 men who say they were abused in their lives. childhood by troop leaders.

The settlement, approved earlier this month by a U.S. bankruptcy judge in Delaware, has the backing of the Boy Scouts’ two largest insurers and 86% of abuse victims who voted in the group’s bankruptcy case. young people. But the appeals, filed on behalf of more than 100 victims of abuse and insurers who provided excess liability cover, could delay the youth group’s recovery from bankruptcy by a year or more.

Representatives for insurers and the Boy Scouts did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Gilion Dumas, a lawyer who represents 67 men with abuse claims dating back to the 1970s and 1980s, said his clients dispute that the settlement extends legal protections to local Boy Scout councils and churches that were responsible for abuse and who did not file a complaint. bankruptcy.

Victims should be able to sue these organizations instead of being forced to seek payment from the Boy Scouts bankruptcy settlement fund, which will not pay all of their claims, Dumas said.

More than a dozen insurers have also appealed, including

Liberty mutual insurance company.

Some of the insurers who appealed had previously accused the Boy Scouts of ceding too much control over the bankruptcy case to abuse victims’ attorneys, resulting in an unfair system for assessing and paying abuse claims.

US Bankruptcy Judge Laurie Selber Silverstein dismissed insurers’ objections on these points in July.

The money for the settlement comes from Boy Scouts, local councils, insurers and organizations that have chartered Scouting units and activities, including churches.

The Boy Scouts filed for bankruptcy in February 2020.

The case is In re Boy Scouts of America, US Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, No. 20-10343.

For the Boy Scouts: Jessica Lauria, Mike Andolina, Matt Linder and Laura Baccash of White & Case; and Derek Abbott and Andrew Remming of Morris, Nichols, Arsht & Tunnell

Read more:

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