Girl Scout Lawsuit Tossed

[Eagle1993]

Judge tosses Girl Scouts' recruitment suit vs. Boy Scouts (yahoo.com)

This should toss them out of bankruptcy as well.  It was a garbage lawsuit about an organization upset BSA started accepting girls.  

The good news is that on the ground, BSA & GSUSA volunteers kept working together.  My pack & a few GSUSA groups just a few months ago had joint activities. 

[RememberSchiff]

Recall two months ago:

On November 12, 2020, Girl Scouts filed its proof of claim in the Bankruptcy Case, which is identified as Claim No. 11246 (as amended, supplemented or modified from time to time, the “Proof of Claim”)...

As previously noted, Girl Scouts’ claim involves three distinct types of damages,...…to recover (1) defendant’s profits, (2) any damages sustained by the plaintiff, and (3) the costs of the action.”)... Girl Scouts currently estimates its claim to amount to no less than $18 million.  

Doc 8679 Filed 02/04/22 :

https://casedocs.omniagentsolutions.com/cmsvol2/pub_47373/36057865-57ec-4d7c-b736-b8a5499747e8_8679.pdf

Seems their claim has been ruled invalid. 

[SSScout]

Oh good. Now our young female human outdoor enthusiasts  can get back to getting dirty....

[SNEScouter]

To recap, according to the voting report (Docket 8141), Class 7 (Non-Abuse Litigation Claims) had 6 voting claims of which 4 voted to accept the plan and 2 voted against.  Presumably the Girl Scouts of America (GSA) was one of the "no" votes.  Each claim was estimated for voting purposes at $1.00 and so the class as a whole accepted the plan with exactly 2/3s voting in favor. 

According to the linked story, GSA will appeal.  If so, it may not have much effect on their right to participate in the bankruptcy until appeals are exhausted.  GSA can continue to object, although it sure does seem like a waste of money at this point.  Moreover,  as a practical matter, the loss in the trial court could cause Judge Silverstein to give less weight to GSA objections to the plan, if only tacitly. 

GSA objected to being placed in Class 7 with wrongful death / tort / other miscellaneous litigation claims.  BSA can now point to the recent judgment, state that GSA's claim is worth zero, and argue "who cares" about classification of a zero dollar claim.

[Eagle1993]

10 minutes ago, SNEScouter said:

According to the linked story, GSA will appeal.  If so, it may not have much effect on their right to participate in the bankruptcy until appeals are exhausted.  GSA can continue to object, although it sure does seem like a waste of money at this point.  Moreover,  as a practical matter, the loss in the trial court could cause Judge Silverstein to give less weight to GSA objections to the plan, if only tacitly. 

 

I don't think she was going to give much weight before and now almost none.  What claim do they now have?  A potential claim IF they win in appeals and then IF that appeal goes back to district and then IF they win there.  

By the time they finish all of that, I expect whatever insurance rights they were going to have access to would be exhausted paying other claims.

The judge knew closing on the bankruptcy case was happening.  I'm sure he wanted to dismiss their lawsuit before the hearing was over.  I don't think the timing was accidental.  

We will see .... I hope to be watching with the GSUSA lawyer completes their closing.  I could see the judge asking ... ok, your lawsuit was dismissed, so can you please explain what exact claim you have?  

[SNEScouter]

1 minute ago, Eagle1993 said:

What claim do they now have?  A potential claim IF they win in appeals and then IF that appeal goes back to district and then IF they win there.  

Yes, that's all they can argue.  For bankruptcy purposes, it technically remains an active claim (albeit disputed) because in theory GSA can appeal, have it sent back to district court for trial, & eventually win.  But I wouldn't expect Judge Silverstein to spend much time on the GSA objection to plan confirmation.

 

[mrjohns2]

6 hours ago, Eagle1993 said:

The good news is that on the ground, BSA & GSUSA volunteers kept working together. 

It remains to be seen if the GSUSA will continue us to have sour grapes over the whole thing. 

[InquisitiveScouter]

12 hours ago, mrjohns2 said:

It remains to be seen if the GSUSA will continue us to have sour grapes over the whole thing. 

Or will they face the fact that their program model is kinda lame?

 

[Eagle1993]

11 minutes ago, InquisitiveScouter said:

Or will they face the fact that their program model is kinda lame?

 

I'll argue they do far better than BSA in K5 - 5th grade.  6th - 12th grade GSUSA faulters unless you have some great Troop leaders.

Also, talking with several of my den leaders who are also GSUSA leaders .. GSUSA is much cheaper AND simpler to run than BSA units.  Most of our GSUSA Troops have thousands in the bank by 5th grade.

I wonder if BSA should consider the GSUSA model for K5 - 5th grade and keep the Troop model for 6th - 12th.  

I thought this was interesting as it happened yesterday.  My daughter just took her annual GSUSA survey. They asked ... what would you say to a friend who isn't in GSUSA about GSUSA.  She answered that all of her friends are already in Girl Scouts (which is true).  Then they asked what would be one thing she would change with the program.  She wrote ... let boys in.  

 

[InquisitiveScouter]

8 minutes ago, Eagle1993 said:

I'll argue they do far better than BSA in K5 - 5th grade.  6th - 12th grade GSUSA faulters unless you have some great Troop leaders.

Also, talking with several of my den leaders who are also GSUSA leaders .. GSUSA is much cheaper AND simpler to run than BSA units.  Most of our GSUSA Troops have thousands in the bank by 5th grade.

I wonder if BSA should consider the GSUSA model for K5 - 5th grade and keep the Troop model for 6th - 12th.  

I thought this was interesting as it happened yesterday.  My daughter just took her annual GSUSA survey. They asked ... what would you say to a friend who isn't in GSUSA about GSUSA.  She answered that all of her friends are already in Girl Scouts (which is true).  Then they asked what would be one thing she would change with the program.  She wrote ... let boys in.  

 

Agreed.  My daughter was in GSUSA through 8th grade, earned her Silver Award.  I encouraged her to go for her Gold Award, and she started with a Troop when we moved here, but the entire reason for existence of the Troop here (it was only older girls) was to pursue Gold Award.  No program whatsoever.  Existence on paper to provide a venue for Gold Award signatures... blech 

I encouraged her to gut it out, and support her Troop anyways, but she refused and took other venues...  Venturing Summit, Congressional Gold Award, Eagle Scout  (DAD BRAG!!!)

Edited April 8, 2022 by InquisitiveScouter

[qwazse]

Quote

He said the Girl Scouts had cited instances of parents confusing the two organizations. But he added that the choice to join one organization or the other is made after several interactions with the organization, by children's desires to join a group siblings or friends have joined, or other factors unrelated to trademarks and branding.

A cautionary tale … branding your councils with fancy names that leave people who see your shoulder patch with no idea where your nearest major city is does nothing for recruitment.

Edited April 8, 2022 by qwazse

[fred8033]

8 hours ago, InquisitiveScouter said:

Or will they face the fact that their program model is kinda lame?

Yeah, but cookies are sought and wanted versus the lame popcorn.

[InquisitiveScouter]

7 hours ago, fred8033 said:

Yeah, but cookies are sought and wanted versus the lame popcorn.

C'mon man!  Who doesn't like a stale bag of chocolate covered pretzels for $50?

OMG... 12 oz of salted peanuts for $24.99.  What a bargain!! https://www.trails-end.com/productDetails/1c58a99b-a40a-11e9-846b-0e41cfdb28ba

With $18.24 donated to local council?  Hmmm...lemme think... how much do the kids get??

Edited April 9, 2022 by InquisitiveScouter

[InquisitiveScouter]

These must be bad peanuts at my local grocer, $3.00...

Wait...how about I buy the peanuts I like...support my local economy, and then donate $22.00 to a local Pack?  Yeah, that's the ticket!!

Edited April 9, 2022 by InquisitiveScouter

[qwazse]

On 4/8/2022 at 11:28 PM, InquisitiveScouter said:

These must be bad peanuts at my local grocer, $3.00...

….

Wait...how about I buy the peanuts I like...support my local economy, and then donate $22.00 to a local Pack?  Yeah, that's the ticket!!

Your council would be half nuts with rage if you were to do that!