Youth Protection and Bankruptcy

[askyourspl]

Received an email earlier this week from the Scout Executive of our Council saying that BSA let the council know there would be news stories in the coming week regarding "Youth Protection and BSA Bankruptcy". Any idea what has changed since the last stories? Is bankruptcy imminent?

Edited July 26, 2019 by askyourspl

[malraux]

The rumor was that the BSA was waiting till after WSJ to make the official bankruptcy declaration. Given that WSJ is upon us, I guess we could see the bankruptcy declaration soon.

[Eagle1993]

Lawsuit filed late today.  If BSA loses this one, I see no way to avoid bankruptcy.  Hundreds of possible victims.  Over 350 accused abusers.  BSA has made 120 reports to law enforcement based upon their review of the lawsuit so far.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/investigations/2019/08/05/boy-scout-sex-abuse-claims-exclusive-lawsuit/1899606001/

[Sentinel947]

9 minutes ago, Eagle1993 said:

Lawsuit filed late today.  If BSA loses this one, I see no way to avoid bankruptcy.  Hundreds of possible victims.  Over 350 accused abusers.  BSA has made 120 reports to law enforcement based upon their review of the lawsuit so far.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/investigations/2019/08/05/boy-scout-sex-abuse-claims-exclusive-lawsuit/1899606001/

Yea. That'll be the tipping point. It'll be interesting to see what happens going forward. Like watching a train derail in slow motion. 

[Jameson76]

Not a good read, very sad.

Mainly issues that occurred years ago.  The quantity of claimants will be the main story.  No recent issues, but this will no doubt accelerate possible bankruptcy.

[Eagle1993]

Article was updated a bit today after a press conference this morning.  They have nearly 800 plaintiffs. Many sad stories... I can only think in many cases leaders could simply not believe what some could be capable of.  We are much more aware of this now and our YPT improvements should help reduce the chance of this ever happening again.

I wonder if the BSA could even handle the legal fees of this one. 

[fred8033]

Very sad.  BSA is tagged with the greater fault when BSA did more than most institutions to at the time.  

[David CO]

9 minutes ago, fred8033 said:

Very sad.  BSA is tagged with the greater fault when BSA did more than most institutions to at the time.  

Since I am always standing up for the Chartered Organizations, and saying that the Chartered Organization owns the unit, I would be a little bit hypocritical if I did not take the position that the Chartered Organizations should bear some of the moral responsibility for the abuses that have taken place in scouting.  The CO's should have done a better job supervising their unit leaders.

[askyourspl]

21 minutes ago, David CO said:

Since I am always standing up for the Chartered Organizations, and saying that the Chartered Organization owns the unit, I would be a little bit hypocritical if I did not take the position that the Chartered Organizations should bear some of the moral responsibility for the abuses that have taken place in scouting.  The CO's should have done a better job supervising their unit leaders.

Great point. While BSA can do all of the background checks and YPT they want, they can't possibly have the same oversight and connection to the Troop that a CO can. It would be interesting to see what would happen in court if the lawsuits were brought against individual COs. Our CO (a church) has almost zero contact with our troop.

[mds3d]

4 hours ago, David CO said:

Since I am always standing up for the Chartered Organizations, and saying that the Chartered Organization owns the unit, I would be a little bit hypocritical if I did not take the position that the Chartered Organizations should bear some of the moral responsibility for the abuses that have taken place in scouting.  The CO's should have done a better job supervising their unit leaders.

I think the CO bears almost all of the moral responsibility that can be placed on someone other than the perpetrator.  Lawsuits aren't about moral responsibility, they are about financial responsibility and most of these places are churches that would never be able to pay out much.  

[skeptic]

4 minutes ago, mds3d said:

I think the CO bears almost all of the moral responsibility that can be placed on someone other than the perpetrator.  Lawsuits aren't about moral responsibility, they are about financial responsibility and most of these places are churches that would never be able to pay out much.  

And there we have it once again; the BSA is the deep pocket the lawyers seek.  It will be interesting how the case(s) move forward with the other links already noted.  There were apparently school teachers, doctors, and other youth group connections that are on the list.  They were not just members of BSA, and some apparently were dealt with, but not on the level of expectation expected today.  We of course are back to the changing societal perceptions and responses to moral turpitude.  "The concept of "moral turpitude" might escape precise definition, but it has been described as an "act of baseness, vileness, or depravity in the private and social duties which a man owes to his fellowmen, or to society in general, contrary to the accepted and customary rule of right and duty between man and man."  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moral_turpitude  I find it interesting that there is noted some connections as well to immigration issues in this shared link.  Not being a lawyer, I am not doing more than offering my opinion that it is difficult to make solid judgments about things that have evolved over decades within our society.  At the same time, it is even more imperative that we do all we can to assure that YP is kept up to date and at the forefront of our interactions within the program.  At the same time, we could hope that somehow the legal stage will bring to fore the reality that the issue is/was not just the BSA, and that today BSA is a leader in trying to avoid these kinds of problems.  At the same time, we can never absolutely stop perpetrators that are out there, only put the YP barriers up with all our abilities.

 

[mashmaster]

We are having a parent meeting next week to cover the very little that we know.  Already got emails from parents.....It is sad for sure.  We have a little information from our council but we honestly don't know much other that to ensure that we continue to follow the YPT procedures we have in place.

[David CO]

6 hours ago, askyourspl said:

It would be interesting to see what would happen in court if the lawsuits were brought against individual COs. Our CO (a church) has almost zero contact with our troop.

 

2 hours ago, mds3d said:

Lawsuits aren't about moral responsibility, they are about financial responsibility and most of these places are churches that would never be able to pay out much.  

 

2 hours ago, skeptic said:

And there we have it once again; the BSA is the deep pocket the lawyers seek.  

BSA decided a long time ago that Chartered Organizations should all pay a fee toward one large insurance policy, bought and managed by BSA, to cover these liability risks.  I didn't agree with the decision at the time.  I thought each individual CO should have its own insurance.  The CO owns the unit.  

But since BSA did force the issue, and made the CO's pay for this insurance, it only makes sense that BSA and its insurance carriers should now have the financial responsibility for these lawsuits.  Even if it means bankruptcy.

The moral responsibility is another matter.

 

Edited August 7, 2019 by David CO

[ParkMan]

It is beyond any question that abuse is a horrendous, heinous, awful crime.  

From what I can tell, the most recent abuse listed here was in 1990.  Is that correct?

[UncleP]

Just saw this news item about nearly 800 former scouts suing (see link), who claim to have abused by over 350 abusers:

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-49253696

In another video I heard a lawyer saying that most of the plaintiffs are 50 and 60 years old.