A court-appointed mediator said in a report Monday that Chubb Ltd. insurers have reached a deal in the Boy Scouts of America bankruptcy suit to contribute $800 million to a fund for victims of sexual abuse, increasing the total payout to victims to an excess of $2.7 billion thus far.
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If approved, the deal would construct “the largest sexual abuse compensation fund in the history of the United States,” the Boy Scouts said in an official release.
According to mediator Timothy V.P. Gallagher, the deal would require an additional $40 million in payments from the BSA and its local councils. The agreement would also release Century Indemnity Co. and other Chubb companies from the BSA claims.
“Together with the contributions already committed to by the debtors, the local councils, Hartford [Financial Services Group], and [The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints], the size of the settlement trust to compensate abuse survivors is now expected to exceed $2.7 billion,” Gallagher noted. “The mediator appreciates the diligence of the parties and the Century and Chubb companies in negotiating the settlement terms.”
In February 2020 the Boy Scouts sought Chapter 11 protection, citing exponential rises in the number of sexual abuse settlements in efforts to set up a long-tailed, “mass. tort” compensation plan for as many as 95,000 claims. That proposed plan would generate a $1.8 billion pool for settlements of those claims, funded by insurer Hartford, local counsels and the national organization.
“This is an extremely important step forward in the BSA’s efforts to equitably compensate survivors, and our hope is that this will lead to further settlement agreements from other parties,” the Boy Scouts stated in a release. “In addition to our continued negotiations with other insurers, the BSA has worked diligently to create a structure that will allow the Roman Catholic-affiliated churches and United Methodist-affiliated churches who sponsored Scouting units to contribute to the proposed settlement trust to compensate survivors.”
The deal is contingent on several conditions and court approvals, however the voting deadline is Dec. 28.
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Source: https://www.law360.com/articles/1448438
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