By: Donald L Swanson
I’ve been saying this for a long time: the mass tort system of justice in these United States is broken.
Two piece of brokenness (there are lots of pieces) are: agonizingly long delays and excessive costs.
We now have a new illustration of the delays brokenness and its associated costs: the Boy Scouts bankruptcy plan.
Consider this chronology:
- 2/18/2020—Boy Scouts entities file their voluntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy petitions in the Delaware Bankruptcy Court (lead case no. 20-10343);
- 9/8/2022—a plan of reorganization for the Boy Scouts entities is confirmed by order of the Bankruptcy Court (Doc. 10316);
- 3/28/2023—on appeal, the plan confirmation order is affirmed by the U.S. District Court for Delaware (Case No. 22-1237; Doc. 150);
- 5/13/2025—on further appeal, the affirmed plan confirmation order is affirmed by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, but with a remand to the Bankruptcy Court for resolution of a limited issue.
So . . . as to delays:
- the Boy Scouts bankruptcy case has been on file for more than five years;
- confirmation of the Boy Scouts bankruptcy plan occurred more than two and a half years ago;
- the U.S. District Court acted with relative speed—affirming the Bankruptcy Court’s plan confirmation order within six months; but
- it took more than two full years for the U.S. Court of Appeals to rule on the appeal; and
- despite the Third Circuit’s affirmance on most issues, the Boy Scouts case is still going back to the Bankruptcy Court for further proceedings (translation: more delays and more costs).
Back on April 11, 2023, I published an article attempting to summarize the U.S. District Court’s 156-page opinion affirming the Bankruptcy Court’s plan confirmation order. That article is titled, “Boy Scouts Plan Pays All Claims In Full—100%–And is Affirmed On Appeal,” and it highlights this question addressed by District Court and the answer it provided:
- Question: “whether it was clear error for the Bankruptcy Court to find that the Plan likely pays Direct Abuse claimants in full”; and
- Answer: “Appellants have failed to put forth evidence that would demonstrate clear error in the Bankruptcy Court’s careful findings of facts.”
That article elicited a number of comments from victims. Some comments reject the idea of a payment in full. But most focus on frustration over the delays and costs involved. Here are examples of those comments:
- “I’ve had my claim in review 2.5 months with no word other than the townhall meetings saying how tough the job is and how committed the Trust is to seeing this thru to the End” (posted on 4/12/2023);
- “after waiting so long as a Victim now age 75 I am confused. I have spoken with many other Victims. Currently we are waiting for a Questionnaire to be formulated (over four months). This could have been done over the past three years and all claimants should have been vetted by now. Could it be, that as Legal Firms have already billed and been paid over $260,000,000 that they have discovered a Cash Cow? . . . as for the way we as Victims have been treated by the Media and the Legal System, I have only one word: DESPICABLE!” (posted on 8/11/2023);
- “Please pay us victims and stop paying the lawyers. They already make tons of claimants sign ridiculous agreements to way too much of the victims money and are already getting paid too. That’s victimizing us more and taking advantage of us for our trauma. Injustice is what this all is” (posted on 8/12/2023);
- “The Trust staff is being paid more money than they have issued to claimants. . . . fact. The Trust estimates the first check will be 1.5% of the overall claim. . . fact… & as a needed Bonus, if the claimant needs cash now, the Trust offers $1,000” (posted on 7/12/2024);
- “I am a boy scout survivor and have been involved with this from the beginning. A few key issues 1. Yes the bsa stated that claims would be paid 100% and from what we’re hearing now that doesn’t seem possible however a key issue here is time. If we continue this battle to get 100% many victims will not live long enough to see justice prevail for themselves. So I don’t think we should let that be an excuse for this process to get away with paying 10 or 15% of the allowed claims that would be an Injustice. However, I would hope and pray that after the other insurance companies pay their part and give the trust enough to pay 50 to 75% of the claims that would be a great way to end this quickly and allow all living claimants to each get their personal justice. I received my 1.5% and I’m hoping that those in power please don’t let these claimants feel like they’re getting screwed again” (posted on 3/13/2025);
- “Many of us Survivors are dying monthly . . Yes 20p are dying from natural or suicide….We all thought we be paid in full but it is impossible to get an answer after 6 years of going through this hell… The VSA knows we’re old and death is knocking daily….So please pay us in full. This is what we are told by our lawyers but may of them have come and gone…Someone please help!” (posted 3/22/2025); and
- “This is ridiculous. I have only received $1,800.00 and every time I contact my attorney all they say is that it is still waiting for the circuit court to have the insurance companies pay. But meanwhile the attorneys get paid and we wait. Like some have said they all wait for us to die so they can keep our claim.” (posted 4/3/2025)
Conclusion
The mass tort system in these United States is broken. Delays and costs are but two manifestations of that brokenness.
The real-life comments of victims, quoted above, are but a small indicator of that brokenness.
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