Survivors: Boy Scouts abuse settlement is not enough

A preliminary vote count on a report filed late Tuesday night showed 73 percent of nearly 54,000 alleged victims of sexual abuse supported Boy Scouts of America’s bankruptcy compensation plan. That is just under the 75 percent typically required in similar cases. A final voting report is due Jan. 17 before a judge in February decides whether to approve the plan to settle more than 82,000 sexual abuse claims.

What is the proposal? BSA and its 250 local councils committed up to $820 million to a fund for abuse claimants. Insurance companies also agreed to pay an aggregate $1.6 billion. In return, the councils, organization, and insurers will be released from further liability for sexual abuse claims. The Latter-day Saints organization and congregations from the United Methodist Church are slated to contribute nearly $400 million for abuses involving Scouting programs they sponsored. All told, the compensation fund will hold $2.69 billion, the largest sexual abuse settlement in U.S. history. Some survivors and their attorneys said the individual payments to survivors would be too low. The Tort Claimants’ Committee estimated the fund nets an average of $28,000 per claim.

Dig deeper: Read Mary Jackson’s report in Relations about a Christian scouting group.