Under the supervision of a bankruptcy judge, the Boy Scouts of America has launched a nationwide advertising campaign to notify victims of decades-old sex abuse by Scout leaders that they have until Nov. 16 to seek compensation from a proposed fund, the Associated Press reported. Law firms say that they have already signed up thousands of clients to submit claims since the Boy Scouts filed for bankruptcy protection in February in the face of hundreds of lawsuits. Some lawyers predict the number of people filing claims will surge past 20,000 by the November deadline. “It’s frightening for the Boy Scouts, because they realize it’s going to take a lot of money to get out of this bankruptcy,” said Andrew Van Arsdale, a lawyer with a network called Abused in Scouting that says it has signed up more than 8,000 clients. The Boy Scouts' court-approved ad campaign began on Monday and is scheduled to run through Oct. 17, at an estimated cost of $6.8 million. It includes print, television, radio and online ads in English and Spanish that are expected to reach more than 100 million people, including more than 95 percent of the primary target audience of men 50 and older.
