Following a three-week trial, a Delaware judge began hearing closing arguments Wednesday in the Boy Scouts of America bankruptcy case, the Associated Press reported. Judge Laura Selber Silverstein must decide whether to approve a reorganization plan the BSA negotiated over the past two years. It would compensate tens of thousands of men who say they were sexually abused as children in Scouting, while allowing the Boy Scouts to continue as an ongoing enterprise. The Boy Scouts, based in Irving, Texas, petitioned for bankruptcy protection in February 2020 in an effort to halt hundreds of individual lawsuits and create a settlement trust for abuse victims. Although the organization faced 275 lawsuits at the time, more than 82,000 sexual abuse claims have been filed in the bankruptcy case. The reorganization plan calls for the Boys Scouts, its 250 local councils, and certain insurance companies and troop sponsoring organizations to contribute some $2.6 billion in cash and property into a compensation fund for abuse victims.
