Between COVID-19 pressures and more than 95,000 sexual-abuse claims, the survival of the Boy Scouts of America is on the line in bankruptcy court, lawyers for the national youth group said yesterday, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. “Covid and the bankruptcy together have created a perfect storm,” said Jessica Boelter, the lead lawyer steering the Boy Scouts through chapter 11, at the organization’s first court appearance since the deadline passed on Monday for sexual-abuse survivors to step forward and file compensation claims. Without a bankruptcy settlement by next summer with those tens of thousands of men, she said, the organization will be out of money. Revenue as of September was down 50 percent compared with last year as pandemic restrictions have curbed camping activities, Boelter said at a hearing in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del. Meanwhile, the Boy Scouts racked up $41 million in bankruptcy costs while attempting to address its failure over the years to screen out sexual predators who went on to abuse youngsters. The number of claims exceeded even the loftiest estimates of some sex-abuse attorneys who had spent years suing the Boy Scouts, Catholic dioceses and other institutions for their alleged liability in past misconduct.
