Eagle1993

Just for some info. My first Lion den had over 30 scouts. Those scouts are now in 6th grade and 3 crossed over. I had 4 den leaders... 0 of their kids crossed over (and clearly they didn't as well). I asked why and nearly every parent said they were done with scouting.... They felt it ran it's course. I explained Scouts BSA was different but it didn't work.

I used to be a fan of the Lions program as it provided an early scouting experience and aligned with GSUSA Daisies (plus the timing when many kids start sports). However, I am seeing local evidence that both volunteers and youth burn out on scouting at a higher rate if they start as Lions. I'm not sure if that trends across my council or nationally. We kept Lions to a one meeting OR outing per month. Very limited attendance at Pack meetings. We charged no pack fee and didnt have them sell popcorn. The high BSA fee is a turnoff. In terms of uniform, you could skip the Lion shirt and just have them buy the Cub Scout uniform. It only needs to last through 3rd grade. BSA should make Lions very cheap, $25 only with no council fee. Their pricing on Cub Scouts and the length of time in the Pack is damaging the long term health of the overall program.

So take the over on my 9 month guess. Hopefully BSA has a record setting recruiting year. I'm not 100% convinced they can last 18 more months in bankruptcy without some major cash infusion or a big recruiting surge. Hopefully the pace of bankruptcy legal fees drop.

Purdue took about 3 months to see their settlement rejected in District court. Then another 3 months for the bankruptcy judge to approve a modified plan. They were then heard by an appeals court in April and are still waiting on a decision. So, Purdue is at 1 year post initial plan approval. My understanding is that the District court response was fast for Purdue. I'm setting an over/under plan effective date of 9 months (mid June 2023). Just a wild guess. That pains me as I hope it is faster, but looking at similarly complex cases it seems like this is going to take some time.

Started new topic.

Now that the judge has confirmed the order, BSA plans to take the show to district court. Feel free to discuss, but please keep this to the legal case only.

If it helps pay to keep camps within BSA and has limited impact on scout programs I have no issue. I'm sure many families could be interested and it would be a unique experience. I expect BSA will have to be more creative to gain revenue streams and at least this one doesn't involve selling off camps.

Letter from The Honorable Judge Silverstein re: language for paragraph 51(b) Filed by . (CMB) https://casedocs.omniagentsolutions.com/cmsvol2/pub_47373/07463674-d994-4157-8aa6-809221601f3c_10304.pdf The judge asked both the non settling insurers and BSA to submit their own versions of a section of a plan. She said she would pick her favorite. Here you can see she replied. Now just waiting on plan approval. Once approved, BSA will quickly move to District court. So, the saga will go on. It will be interesting if anyone outside non settling insurers keeps up the fight.

Hearing in a short recess as we look at Tanc's ceiling fan on the zoom call. So far so good, Judge is approving changes and said she doesn't see any of these as a change to the plan (just addressing order issues).

My 99% is increasing to 99.9% ... Judge is approving paragraph of the Section M about the insurance for Agana. Dam is breaking .... Judge said if Archbishop of Agana didn't like it, they should have showed up. More to go, but that was big.

Final plan & exhibits were uploaded last night. Century supports the updates; however, we may see some fireworks with Guam and possibly the judge. 3b0d7c7a-ca0e-4eab-ad84-f43950dc2b65_10299.pdf (omniagentsolutions.com) Basically, the issue comes down to the insurance for the Archbishop of Agana. While the judge said that cannot be included in the settlement (as it is held up in a different bankruptcy) Century does not want to simply leave it free and clear. Guam likely disagrees. So, it will be up to the judge. Otherwise, I'm not sure if anything else will cause much of a disagreement. Time will tell.

The issue about vetting came in from the mass tort lawyers that spent no time vetting claims. I expect most who sought out the bankruptcy on their own, filled out a claim form and signed with their name are legitimate. The ones I question more are those that came in from the midnight TV ads and call centers. The Judge approved the trolling for claims, only if lawyers reviewed and signed off on those claim forms. Through discovery, it was clear that many law firms did little to no vetting of the claims. The quickly back peddled when asked to defend the claims same lawyers were saying, no that is my law firm, not me personally signing off on the claim. The judge was very upset, but it is too late to fix that now. BSA was very concerned and pushed back on any vetting saying the cost and time would be too great an ask and could lead them to liquidation. So, the great compromise is the judge will see the vetting occur through the trustee. I expect that was always the plan, but her bar will likely raise based on what she saw in this case. My guess ... the threat of the vetting will scare away many if not most of the fraudulent claims.

I don't think this will happen. But, if Ch 7 occurred.. All assets (essential HA based and Trademarks including Eagle) would be sold to the highest bidder. This includes all merit badges and program materials. I could see a "new national" BSA form who would buy most of the trademarks and materials (but not HA bases). Then scouting would proceed. The most likely path for BSA is that it is going to get very expensive regardless of Ch 7 unless they start getting big donations and large increases of youth. I wouldn't be surprised to see scouts Canada fees ($150/year), HA bases charge $2K+ for 7 day trips and summer camps head towards $600+ for a week. BSA will exist, but if our course doesn't change it I fear it will be for those that can afford it.

I believe this was added to the plan to make sure BSA didn't low ball their business plan to get out of paying more to the settlement. So, if BSA high adventure attendees exceed plan, I believe the have to pay $150 per attendee. Similar to registered scouts, if they exceed the plan they own $50 per scout. I'll see if I can find that section in the plan...

Very good point. I don't think the Guam claimants can disrupt this much. However, if Century pulls out then the plan is dead. Tanc made an ominous appearance just before the zoom call ended. There is one piece that is being discussed that Tanc indicated was critical to not change materially. The judge went back and forth with Tanc and she said as long as it is consistent with the plan she is fine.... and Tanc seemed to agree. However, it was a bit disconcerting. I still think 99% chance this is approved and agree, it should have been done tonight.

Next steps ... order has some very discrete changes & process will be quick. Guam claimants will have some time to review and will be served. Status conference to be setup next week Wednesday; however, unlikely needed. If needed, will be very short and zoom only (save BSA$ on travel). So, expect plan approval Wednesday/Thursday next week (or earlier). Judge ... "interesting case".

Almost done. Lujan giving it one last try, attempting to score 12 runs with 1 swing of the bat. She should have settled back in 2019.

One point of that $80+M of cash + the $63M reserved for JPM. Based on the plan, as soon as it is effective (post appeal) BSA must pay all by $25M or so of their cash/non restricted assets and a big chunk to JPM. So, I expect most of their current cash will go away and be paid out post effective date. They also state they will get a $48M loan from the foundation to survive after they pay out most of their cash.

Correct. BSA is directly paying their lawyers, TCC lawyers, Omni, consultants, Trustee, etc. The only people they are not directly paying is individual claimant counsel (and actually some of them are attempting to get paid from the trust directly).

What is key is really Exhibit F. In the end, as long as local councils in total provide $500M in cash & properties + $125M note they are free and clear. If they miss this by $1, no council will have any protection. There is a breakdown of donated property; however, that is subject to change if they provide cash vs property. I think if they sell property, they are supposed to notify the court. However, I know places are being sold and it seems like those concerns are no longer present as there is the $625M settlement agreement. So, basically, BSA will need to herd the cats and ensure all make their contribution.

Not an expert but one reference is Purdue as it is another complex bankruptcy case. The latest plan was approved March 9, but there has been on appeals ruling yet. Also, that one already went through District which took 2 months. So ... if similar ... 8+ months? Just attempting to ballpark this comparing to a similar case. I know district on Purdue took 2 months and that was considered very fast (and they rejected the plan). So, in Purdue, they are 1 year past their original plan confirmation date. So, it is very possible we are talking 12+ months, but my hope is closer to 4-6.

Hearing has started and ongoing. It seems clear the plan will be approved; however, some minor changes will be required (at least so far). It could take a few days as they need to notify some other parties of changes. This will not go into effect until post appeal approval (so even after the plan is approved, BSA and others agreed it isn't effective immediately). That also means BSA cannot say appeals are moot as they already implemented th plan.

Big change in BSA's financials. 17c7637d-c326-4612-9685-10cfeb89a4f0_10280.pdf (omniagentsolutions.com) They transferred their entire Unrestricted RBT Balance to cash. So, their cash went to $83.65M; however, their RBT Balance is now at $0. The RBT is their "Retirement Benefits Trust". They also state they have $63M additional in cash set aside to pay JPM as they exit. Their bankruptcy fees dropped (which is a bit odd). THey showed a decrease of $5.9M in professional fees. Total is now $362M.

It looks like USA Gymnastics had costs in the range of $20M ... tough to really see. Their settlement was 380 so cost was about 5% of the total settlement.

BSA's involvement will drop way off if the plan is confirmed. They will have to still cover the cost of sending it to district and perhaps some appeals but I expect those costs will be far less than their $13M+/month they have been averaging. If all goes well, my understanding is 2 months for District approval (December) and perhaps several months after for appeals. Now, if the Purdue appeals court overturns their bankruptcy case BSA's plan could be in trouble. All the trust costs come from that fund, not the BSA. The settlement trust will pay those fees. I understand that varies. I have heard anywhere from 33-50%.