Eagle1993

My father-in-law went through mediation on a real estate sale. Yes, much, much smaller .. but still. Similar experience. After mediation closed, the mediator basically told the other side ... you will lose if this goes to trail. They closed on an agreement quickly after that. Mediators can tell either side when they are over the rails. I think if BSA & TCC walk out of the room with a deal, the councils & claimants will fall into line. Councils will be told that if the deal falls through, National will liquidate and essentially councils funds will all go to legal fees. They won't have a choice. TCC will recommend approval. Even if 55% approval, the judge can simply say she approves the deal. She doesn't need 66% approval from the claimants. If she sees TCC on board AND the majority of claimants and only 1 or two lawyers are crowing ... I expect she approves. Get the TCC & BSA in a room. Perhaps it is a week with a strong mediator. Work it out. Burning $10M in cash a month doesn't help anyone.

Key will be October/November numbers. Can Cub Scouting rebound post Covid? I think it will.

They lowered the age limit for many power tools. I’ll give a thumbs up as I see this as a move in the right direction!

My one frustration is that the judge doesn’t seem to make many rulings. For example on discovery, she seemed to like the idea but deferred to District Court and that process. When will she officially decide on the HA based or councils as separate entities. Outside of a stern message, what legal pressure is on the groups to reach a settlement? What can she do to force a tight timeline and is she doing it?

Yes. Regions and areas would be replaced.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/local-boy-scouts-councils-agree-to-cooperate-on-abuse-victims-probe-11616017053 "Under a pact approved Wednesday in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del., lawsuits can be filed against the local councils that hold the bulk of the Boy Scouts wealth, but the litigation won’t progress until mid-July. The trade off is that survivors’ lawyers will receive detailed roster data needed to identify local councils and other organizations that chartered individual troops where the sexual abuse took place."

Any surveyor stakes?

Not sure if this has been sent out previously. Looks like just a proposal. 2125723974_BSAChurchillPlan-ProposedNewTerritoryStructureandCouncilStandardspresentation10.6.20.pdf

I would also add, that while technically they need 66% ... if the TCC supports the deal and 52% of the claimants, I could see the judge accepting the deal. From the TCC townhall, they talked that no judge approve a deal over the objections of the sex abuse survivors. They didn't necessarily the 66% approval. I bet when the TCC approves, they will get close to the 66% and the Judge will approve. No deal will be done until the TCC approves, so just focus on that for now.

I will say, from my experience, Wisconsin scout property typically sells to logging companies. They'll go through and remove most of the trees then possibly lease the land for farming. Its pretty far from populations and the lake is very small ... so not a ton of value of water frontage in this case.

Single. CFL is essentially the property pictured below. In Wisconsin, you cannot technically own lakes, but they own the property around the entire lake. The claim is that it is the 2nd cleanest lake in Wisconsin. I have no idea what the property will sell for ... my guess its outside my price range.

To me, this makes a ton of sense. I love private lake camps ... but if the balance is no camp or sharing a lake, I'd go for a shared lake. Most of the time, scouts do not need the entire shoreline. We need a waterfront to swim & and boat launch area. I hope some councils consider this option as it could net a large portion of the camps value while still maintaining a local summer camp.

In the CFL sale, my understanding is that they will list it at FMV. If it doesn't sell, they will transfer ownership to the trust at FMV. The trust can then sell the property at FMV in the future.

Its great to hear ... but at $10M/month, it feels like we will lose 3-5 local camps each month this trial goes on. Hopefully the BSA & TCC lawyers finally sit in a room and don't leave until there is a settlement. No food, no water, just sit. Heck .. perhaps we can put them up at a camp site in one of our camps. They have to make their own fires, cook for themselves and not leave the area until there is a deal.

This will be interesting if it moves forward. Has she discussed restricted assets (JP Morgan/Summit)?

The law firm needs cash flow as well., I don't see them working for credit. So ... perhaps JP Morgan can loan the BSA MORE money that will then be spent on lawyers. Or National can special assess councils (each council needs to provide $1M or they lose their charter). Or they sell properties to fund legal expenses. Even at $10M per month, I think the BSA can find cash to support this for a long time (unless they decide a better strategy is to liquidate National).

Anybody watching the zoom of the Chapter 11 hearing today? Any punches thrown? Just heard that there was an exchange that $100M has been spent on lawyers to date and $150M will be spent by August. Judge called it "staggering".

To give you an idea what we are talking about ....

If you look at the BSA disclosure update you get an idea of how complex this is. There are insurance policies for every council listed by date over decades. Take council xyz, they list the insurance policy year by year (some years they changed mid year). Each of these policies may have caps on total payouts. Combine this with the National insurance policies and I wonder how this will ever be settled.

Camp Freeland Leslie A patrol cooking camp. No pool. No ATVs. Just a private lake in the middle of Wisconsin. Great staff and a fun program. Will be missed.

I figure we can have a separate thread on a list of bankruptcy losses. This is not speculation of what could happen, but did happen/is happening.

CFL is a patrol cooking camp. It turns a profit. Its well run with great volunteers. They ran camp during Covid and did it well. I love that camp and we will be there this summer ... While Three Fires is not my council, they are well run and have positive balance sheets. This is what is happening with a settlement that will be rejected. Our only hope is that some of today's wealthy individuals buys the camps and keeps them as scout camps. I can barely type .... I don't know how I am going to tell our scouts. We already lost our long term in council camp a couple of years ago ... now this.

My local camp! I’m sick

Very interesting document. https://casedocs.omniagentsolutions.com/cmsvol2/pub_47373/881153_2391.pdf From what I understand, the claimants are asking the court to estimate their total damages (bottoms up) year by year. So, for example, if an average sex abuse claim should be paid off by $500K and there are 84,000 claims the total amount would be $42B. Then, that would be broken into year by year. Then they can figure out what National, LC, CO and their insurance companies could pay to hit the $42B. (Not necessarily $42B, but you get the idea). Don't forget, the insurance is complex as there are different policies for different years for different groups and each policy has max payouts. Interesting ... I wonder if the court will support this method. It could help set a top down target that the BSA & insurance companies need to meet bottoms up (or at least target).

IMHO, the ONLY way a settlement is reached is if there is trust from the TCC and the claimants that the offer represents a significant portion of local council available assets. The only way the BSA LCs can establish this trust is through transparency. Without transparency, I see no way the TCC recommends approval EVER. Without their approval, there will never be a settlement that includes LCs.