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More than 82,000 people have come forward with sex-abuse claims against the Boy Scouts of America, describing a decades-long accumulation of assaults at the hands of scout leaders across the nation who had been trusted as role models, the New York Times reported. The claims, which lawyers said far eclipsed the number of abuse accusations filed in Catholic Church cases, continued to mount ahead of a Monday deadline established in bankruptcy court in Delaware, where the Boy Scouts had sought refuge this year in a bid to survive the demands for damages. Paul Mones, a lawyer who has been working on Boy Scouts cases for nearly two decades, said the prevalence of abuse detailed in the filings was breathtaking and might reflect only a fraction of victims. One coalition of attorneys, operating as the group Abused in Scouting, has clients from all 50 states along with cases in which the abuse occurred overseas at places such as military bases in Japan and Germany. The accusers range in age from 8 to 93. While the vast majority are men, some women have also filed complaints. The avalanche of claims, 82,663 of them by late Sunday, set up a monumental task for the bankruptcy case as the Boy Scouts seek to one day emerge with its operations intact. The national organization has more than $1 billion in assets, according to its bankruptcy filing. The organization also has a network of local Boy Scouts councils that own hundreds of camps and other properties across the country where scouts can advance their skills and values along lake shores and in mountain valleys. As the Boy Scouts seek to reorganize and set up a victims’ compensation fund under the chapter 11 filing, a judge set today as the deadline for victims to come forward with claims that will ultimately undergo a vetting process. In a statement, the Boy Scouts of America said that the organization was “devastated by the number of lives impacted by past abuse in Scouting.” The organization said it had sought an accessible process for survivors to seek compensation.

The trustee for bonds issued on behalf of the bankrupt Roman Catholic Church of the Archdiocese of New Orleans negotiated a settlement that allows bondholders to be paid interest — but not principal — during the pendency of the case, Bond Buyer reported. The diocese filed for reorganization under the weight of sexual abuse claims in May, with $38 million of outstanding revenue bonds among its debts, according to filings in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana. TMI Trust Co., trustee for the bonds, negotiated the settlement with the archdiocese that the court approved, TMI said in a material event notice posted on the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board’s EMMA filing system on Wednesday. "The order approving the settlement agreement provides that, during the pendency of the bankruptcy proceeding, the archdiocese is authorized to pay interest due on the bonds according to the payment schedule provided for in the bond documents," TMI's notice said. "Bondholders will not receive payment of any principal due on the bonds during the pendency of the bankruptcy proceeding." TMI said that the archdiocese paid the missed July 1, 2020 interest payment on the bonds, and that bondholders will be paid on Nov. 20. The missed interest payment that will be paid totals $930,206.25, but the missed annual principal payment of $1.385 million remains unpaid, according to the settlement, which also states that TMI did not agree to support a plan of adjustment. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Meredith S. Grabill approved the settlement Nov. 2. It contains the agreement between TMI and the archdiocese.

Bankruptcy Judge Mary Walrath has overruled objections in the Weinstein Co. bankruptcy to a disclosure statement outlining a revised plan providing about $35 million for creditors, with roughly half that amount going to women who have accused disgraced film mogul Harvey Weinstein of sexual misconduct, ABCNews.go.com reported. Judge Walrath yesterday overruled objections to the disclosure statement by attorneys representing 11 women, including producer Alexandra Canosa and actresses Wedil David and Dominique Huett, who oppose the proposed settlement. Judge Walrath said that the group’s objections were “not well-stated.” Her ruling means the company can begin soliciting votes on the plan by holders of sexual misconduct claims and general unsecured claims. Ballots are due by Dec. 8, and a hearing on whether Walrath will approve the plan is set for Dec. 18. Attorneys said that 65 tort claims were filed by the Oct. 31 deadline, although it’s unclear whether sexual misconduct claims account for the entire total. Company attorneys have said they will not seek approval of the plan if holders of sexual misconduct claims vote to reject it.

A California state agency is recommending PG&E Corp. pay $165.7 million in fines and penalties for mismanaging preemptive blackouts last fall to prevent wildfires, saying the company cut power to thousands of customers with no warning, Bloomberg News reported. If approved by state regulators, the proposal from the Public Advocates Office of the California Public Utilities Commission would force PG&E to give $400 refunds to many of those customers, who lost electricity service without prior notice during three blackouts last October. For blacked-out customers who rely on medical devices in their homes, PG&E would spend up to $5,000 per person to provide backup power, such as a generator or battery. PG&E started resorting to deliberate blackouts after its equipment caused some of the worst wildfires in California history, forcing the company into bankruptcy last year. The utility emerged from Chapter 11 in July after having paid $25.5 billion to resolve fire claims. “We want PG&E to be held accountable,” said Nathaniel Skinner, safety branch program manager with the Public Advocates Office. “We see some improvement -- we hope they improve -- but this is about how they performed during these events.” California regulators opened a probe into last year’s shutoffs, which caused widespread disruptions and forced the closure of schools and businesses. During one outage in October 2019, PG&E cut power to more than 2 million people across Northern California. 

As sex abuse cases against the Boy Scouts of America continue, attorneys in South Carolina are handling many of the national claims in bankruptcy court, Live5News.com reported. There is now a Nov. 16 deadline looming for the thousands of men who claim they were molested by scout leaders. Motley Rice in Mount Pleasant, S.C., is handling the lead negotiation for the victims in bankruptcy court. "Unfortunately, this sexual abuse has gone on for many, many years. Hidden from the public. And it put the Boy Scouts of America in a position where they had to file bankruptcy,” said Kevin Dean, an attorney with Motley Rice. “[Survivors of BSA abuse] have until November the 16th to file a claim in bankruptcy court. It’s not a lawsuit... It’s simply a bankruptcy claim. There could be anywhere from 50 to 100,000 potential claims.”

The federal government’s proposed settlement with the Sackler family members who own OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma LP ran into opposition from company creditors worried that less money will be left over for them, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. An official committee that represents Purdue’s creditors raised objections to the proposed settlement in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in White Plains, N.Y., where Purdue sought chapter 11 protection last year under an onslaught of lawsuits accusing the company of helping fuel opioid addiction. Carrying out the settlement requires approval from the bankruptcy court. Action in the bankruptcy case involves both mediation and an investigation by the official creditors committee into the company’s owners and their vast wealth. Members of the Sackler family who served on Purdue’s board and were sued along with the company are, like Purdue itself, shielded against lawsuits while they try to come to terms with states, municipalities, Native American authorities and other creditors. Without filing for bankruptcy, the billionaire Sacklers are sharing the company’s legal shield temporarily, and hope to negotiate a permanent reprieve from lawsuits as part of Purdue’s bankruptcy plan.

PG&E Corp. scored a victory on Friday as a judge ruled against hedge funds that said California’s largest utility had unfairly shut them out of a lucrative stock deal on its way out of bankruptcy, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. New York hedge fund Elliott Management Corp., a big investor in PG&E’s debt, led a group of bondholders in the failed effort to collect $250 million in damages from the utility for allegedly failing to honor its agreement with them. Big investors that helped PG&E raise money in the stock market were rewarded with fees and shares in the company. Elliott and other bondholders said that they didn’t get a chance to participate, even though PG&E had promised it would use best efforts to get them a piece of the stock sale action. PG&E pointed to releases in its chapter 11 plan that it said had cut off the bondholders’ right to sue. Bankruptcy Judge Dennis Montali ruled that bondholders lost their right to complain when PG&E’s chapter 11 plan took effect, and broad releases shielded the company. PG&E exited bankruptcy in time to meet a June deadline to participate in California’s new statewide wildfire protection fund for utilities.

Walmart Inc. sued the federal government in an attempt to strike a pre-emptive blow against what it said is an impending opioid-related civil lawsuit from the Justice Department, the Wall Street Journal reported. The retail giant said in a lawsuit filed yesterday that the Justice Department and Drug Enforcement Administration are seeking to scapegoat the company for the federal government’s own regulatory and enforcement shortcomings in combating the opioid crisis. Walmart said the government is seeking steep financial penalties against the retailer for allegedly contributing to the opioid crisis by filling questionable prescriptions. The suit names the department and Attorney General William Barr as defendants, as well as the DEA and its acting administrator, Timothy Shea. It is seeking a declaration from a federal judge that the government has no lawful basis for seeking civil damages from the company based on claims pharmacists filled valid prescriptions that they should have known raised red flags. Walmart, which operates more than 5,000 in-store pharmacies in the U.S., said the government’s “threatened action would be unprecedented.” It said the government hasn’t alleged that the company was filling altered prescriptions, or that its pharmacists had inappropriate relationships with patients or doctors.

The Justice Department announced yesterday that Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin, has agreed to plead guilty to criminal charges related to its marketing of the addictive painkiller, and faces penalties of roughly $8.3 billion, the New York Times reported. The settlement could pave the way for a resolution of thousands of lawsuits brought against the company for its role in a public health crisis that has killed more than 450,000 Americans since 1999. The company’s owners, members of the wealthy Sackler family, have agreed to pay $225 million in civil penalties. Prosecutors said the agreement did not preclude the filing of criminal charges against Purdue executives or individual Sacklers. The federal settlement does not end all of the extensive litigation against Purdue, but it does represent a significant advance in the long legal march by states, tribes, cities and counties to hold the most prominent opioid maker accountable.

The Justice Department is urging a bankruptcy judge to limit a creditor probe of OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma LP into the billions of dollars in profits collected by the Sackler family members who own the company, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Justice Department lawyers said in a court document filed Monday that Purdue and the Sackler family members shouldn’t have to turn over information supplied to the government during its own investigation into the drugmaker because that could deter targets of other criminal and civil probes from engaging in “full and frank discussions” with prosecutors. Purdue turned to chapter 11 last year in hopes of resolving thousands of lawsuits filed by states and municipalities accusing the company of fueling widespread opioid addiction. Other drugmakers, distributors and retail pharmacies have also been targeted in litigation seeking to recoup communities costs’ from opioid misuse. Government investigations into Purdue are close to being resolved under a settlement that could be announced as soon as today. But as part of Purdue’s bankruptcy, an official creditors committee is also conducting a probe into the drugmaker, its owners and its alleged role in creating and escalating the opioid crisis. The company’s creditors include state and local governments, Native American tribal authorities, hospitals and others looking to recoup the costs of drug addiction. The creditors' committee has accused Sackler family members of holding back documents, including disclosures made to the Justice Department during negotiations to resolve the years-long criminal and civil investigations into the company.