Boy Scouts Sexual Abuse Lawsuit

After facing hundreds of sexual abuse lawsuits, the Boy Scouts of America filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on February 18, 2020. This kind of bankruptcy is not the type you file if you are broke, which is a Chapter 7 bankruptcy. In contrast, Chapter 11 is a “restructuring” bankruptcy, which allows corporations to reorganize their business affairs and emerge from bankruptcy without their former liabilities. If the court sets a claims-bar deadline, victims who fail to file by the deadline may have their claims extinguished.

If you’ve experienced abuse in the Boy Scouts, we recommend you file a claim as soon as possible.

In their bankruptcy filing, Boy Scouts of America proposed an 80-day window for sexual abuse victims to submit their claims. However, victims who have already filed claims are currently trying to contest the Boy Scouts’ proposed deadline, and the court has not finalized a deadline yet.

Any instance of undesired sexual behavior by one person towards another is sexual abuse. Sometimes this includes force, the threat of force (including if the perpetrator is in a position of power over the victim), or taking advantage of the other person (including if the victim is inebriated or asleep).

Sexual abuse may include:

• unwanted touch
• exposure to inappropriate nudity or graphic sexual contact
• asking for sexual contact in exchange for favors
• verbal or physical threats to keep the sexual contact a secret

If you or a loved one experienced sexual assault in the Boy Scouts, this lawsuit can help.

Many states have recently passed laws giving victims of sexual abuse more time to seek justice.

In California, people who have experienced childhood sexual abuse now have a three-year window to file claims, no matter how long ago the abuse occurred. This window will last until the end of 2022.

Separate from this current three-year window, going forward, victims of childhood sexual abuse in California will have either until age 40 or until 5 years from when the abuse was first discovered to file civil lawsuits.

Similarly, in New York, victims of childhood sexual abuse now have until age 55 to file a civil lawsuit and until age 28 to file criminal charges.

These state-level changes have happened in the wake of sexual abuse scandals from large organizations like USA Gymnastics, UCLA, and the Catholic Church.

The lawsuits allege horrific abuse such as fondling, exposure to pornography, and forced sex. In addition, the lawsuits allege that Boy Scouts of America knew about widespread sexual abuse but didn’t do enough to stop it—court records reveal the Boy Scouts leadership kept files dating back several decades on adult leaders and volunteers who had molested or sexually assaulted child Scouts.

New state laws have allowed many more victims to come forward and file claims. As a result, while around 300 people have already filed sex abuse claims against Boy Scouts of America, advocates now say they anticipate filing thousands more.