An attorney for the Boy Scouts of America told a Delaware judge on Thursday that the group’s national board never adopted a resolution approving an $850 million agreement that is the linchpin of the Boy Scouts’ proposed bankruptcy plan, the Associated Press reported. Despite that acknowledgment, the Boy Scouts are asking the judge to rule that the organization properly exercised its business judgment in entering into the agreement and should be allowed to proceed with it as the foundation of a final bankruptcy plan. The agreement involves the national Boy Scouts organization, the roughly 250 local Boy Scout councils, and law firms representing some 70,000 men who claim they were molested as youngsters by Scoutmasters and others. It also includes the official victims committee appointed by the U.S. bankruptcy trustee. The agreement is opposed by insurers that issued policies to the Boy Scouts and local councils, other law firms representing thousands of abuse victims, and various church denominations that have sponsored local Boy Scout troops. The Boy Scouts, based in Irving, Texas, sought bankruptcy protection in February 2020 amid an onslaught of lawsuits by men who said they were sexually abused as children. The filing was part of an attempt to reach a global resolution of abuse claims and create a compensation fund for victims. Under the agreement presented to U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Laura Selber Silverstein, the Boy Scouts have proposed contributing up to $250 million in cash and property to a fund for abuse victims. Local councils, which run day-to-day operations for Boy Scout troops, would contribute $600 million. The national organization and councils also would transfer their rights to Boy Scout insurance policies to the victims fund. In return, they would be released from further liability for abuse claims.
