The Boy Scouts of America are nearing a settlement with lawyers for sex-abuse victims that marks a major step for the youth group’s efforts to end the largest bankruptcy case ever filed over childhood abuse, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. The Boy Scouts are close to agreeing on a victim-compensation framework with a coalition of victims’ law firms that represent the bulk of the 84,000 men who stepped forward to file claims over sexual abuse in scouting programs. Details are still being hammered out, and there is no guarantee a final settlement will materialize. A deal with the law-firm coalition would mark a breakthrough for the Boy Scouts after 16 costly months under court protection. Any settlement proposal will still be subject to a vote by survivors and requires bankruptcy-court approval to take effect. The Boy Scouts filed for chapter 11 in February 2020, hoping to resolve a wave of civil litigation by victims after several states suspended statutes of limitation on sexual abuse, allowing survivors to sue regardless of how long ago the misconduct took place. The organization has said that the vast majority of abuse claims predate its modern youth protection program instituted in 1990, and that scouting is safer than ever before. It said that at least 85% of claims allege a first instance of abuse prior to that year.
