Small groups of former Boy Scouts who say they were sexually abused by Scouting leaders are seeking more information about how much money local councils and insurers will be contributing to settle decades worth of sex abuse claims as part of the Boy Scouts of America’s reorganization, Reuters reported. The former Scouts filed a series of objections on Wednesday and Thursday in Delaware bankruptcy court to the organization's disclosure materials for its proposed reorganization plan. It includes a proposed settlement of more than 80,000 sex abuse claims filed against the Boy Scouts. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Laurie Selber Silverstein will consider the disclosure materials at a hearing on May 19. If she approves them, the Boy Scouts will be able to send them to creditors who are entitled to vote on the proposed plan. The plan would set up a trust to be funded by a mix of cash, artwork, insurance policies, and at least $425 million from local councils in exchange for releases against legal actions stemming from sex abuse allegations. The organization’s proposal has already been met with opposition from groups representing the interests of abuse survivors in the bankruptcy, including an official tort claimants' committee and a group called the Coalition of Abused Scouts for Justice. This week, law firms representing small groups of individual abuse claimants filed papers saying that the disclosure materials need to include valuations of each local council’s assets, how many sex abuse claims have been lodged against each local council, and how much each council is contributing to the settlement trust in exchange for a release of abuse claims. The claimant groups say the information is necessary for them to determine whether the contributions are worth giving up their claims against their local councils.
