%1

More than a year into the Boy Scouts of America’s bankruptcy proceedings, frustration is at a boiling point for sex abuse survivors who say the nonprofit organization is doing little to put forth meaningful reparations for their trauma, USA Today reported. Their anger has extended to the bankruptcy court itself, which is redacting hundreds of letters sent to Judge Laurie Selber Silverstein, preventing the public from understanding the full extent of the abuse they say they suffered as children. The Torts Claimants Committee, the official body chosen to represent abuse survivors in the case, filed an objection yesterday to the Scouts’ latest bankruptcy reorganization plan, saying that it "minimizes the organization’s history of failing to protect children from sexual predators." Central to the objection is what the committee calls a small sum that the Boy Scouts has offered to put toward a trust for survivors as well as a lack of "the most basic information necessary" for survivors to ensure they are getting a fair deal. That includes financial details of local Scout councils and sponsoring organizations, some of which attorneys maintain are as liable as the national organization for the abuse. The two camps differ wildly on estimated costs of the abuse. The Boy Scouts said in its latest plan that its claims expert estimates the cost of settling the claims at between $2.4 billion and $7.1 billion. The claimants' committee says it will be more than $100 billion.

As Frontier Communications emerged from chapter 11 bankruptcy on Friday, officials with the Norwalk-based telecommunication company made it clear they expect high-speed internet service — delivered by fiber optic cable — to deliver them from the financial wilderness, the New Haven (Conn.) Register reported. “The focus is on fiber,” said John Stratton, the incoming executive chairman of the board for Frontier, which saw its executive team undergo a dramatic reorganization during the full year it was under chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. “The goal is to replace our existing copper network with fiber.” Stratton and other Frontier executives explained the company’s strategy during a call with financial analysts reporting on its first quarter earnings. The company had earnings of $60 million in the three-month period that ended March 31 — a dramatic reversal from the same period in 2020, when the company lost $186 million.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Jerry Funk issued an order confirming Stein Mart Inc.’s chapter 11 plan that pays off secured and priority claims in full but only a fraction of unsecured claims, the Jacksonville (Fla.) Daily Record reported. The April 13 order also cancels Stein Mart’s stock. Judge Funk had said at an April 8 hearing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Middle District of Florida, Jacksonville Division, that he would confirm the plan. Jacksonville-based Stein Mart filed its chapter 11 petitions Aug. 12 and began winding down operations, closing the last of its 281 stores Oct. 26. “The Debtors have proposed the Plan in good faith, with the legitimate and honest purpose of maximizing the value of the Debtors’ Estates for the benefit of their stakeholders,” Judge Funk said in his order.