A year and a half after the Boy Scouts of America sought bankruptcy protection amid an onslaught of child sex abuse lawsuits, a Delaware judge is poised to issue a ruling that could determine whether the organization might emerge from bankruptcy later this year, the Associated Press reported. Following a three-day hearing that ended Monday, the judge is mulling whether the Boy Scouts can pursue an $850 million agreement with attorneys representing a majority of the 82,500 abuse claimants in the case. Failure to win approval of the agreement could throw the case into chaos. The agreement involves the national Boy Scouts organization, the roughly 250 local Boy Scout councils, the official victims committee, and law firms representing some 70,000 men who say they were molested as youngsters by Scoutmasters and others. The Texas-based 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. 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 Boy Scouts troops.
