BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA'S PLAN FAILS TO GARNER SUFFICIENT SURVIVOR VOTES ACCORDING TO TORT CLAIMANTS COMMITTEE

News provided by

Jan 05, 2022, 13:46 ET

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 5, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Official Tort Claimants' Committee ("TCC") of the Boy Scouts of America ("BSA") projects that the BSA failed to garner enough votes from eligible voters for the approval of the BSA's Second Modified Fifth Amended Plan of Reorganization ("Plan"). The overbroad releases of the local councils, chartered organizations, and their respective insurance companies are the cornerstone of the BSA's Plan. The vote is one of the primary gating items the Bankruptcy Court will consider when asked to approve the Plan. The BSA's preliminary voting report reflects that approximately 27% of eligible survivors voted to reject the Plan and approximately 29.5% voted to reject if one excludes the survivors who elected to release their claim for an expedited payment. Additionally, there are other fatal defects in the current Plan that must be addressed.

"Survivors understood that the Plan does not adequately compensate them. The prospect of litigation against the BSA, its local councils, chartered organizations, and their respective insurers will not dissuade those who have spent lifetimes seeking justice. The Boy Scouts tout the Plan and the settlements as historically high. When considered from the perspective of the individual abuse survivor, the settlements are historically low," said John Humphrey, Co-Chair of the TCC.

"As promised, the TCC is laser focused on improving the Plan to ensure that survivors get the fair and equitable treatment they deserve. Thousands of survivors heard the TCC's message: 'Vote "No" and the TCC will work its hardest to get a better settlement, including the best protection for children in the BSA's Scouting programs. We are now in the position to do just that," said Doug Kennedy, Co-Chair of the TCC.

Since August 2021, the TCC has maintained that the BSA's Plan, and the settlements with the local councils, chartered organizations, and certain insurance companies, are woefully inadequate to compensate survivors. At the TCC's regular Town Hall meetings attended by thousands of survivors, the TCC has urged survivors to vote "No" on the Plan based on its economics and inadequate measures to reform BSA's Youth Protection program.

"There is simply no precedent for approving this kind of plan. The TCC has always stood for fair compensation and the protection of children. To accomplish those goals, the Boy Scouts must now work with the TCC to address the fundamental flaws in the BSA's Plan. The TCC has already started negotiating what it hopes will develop into a satisfactory Plan for all," said Richard Pachulski of Pachulski Stang Ziehl & Jones LLP, bankruptcy counsel to the TCC.

More information on the restructuring can be found at https://www.tccbsa.com

SOURCE Pachulski Stang Ziehl & Jones