The Boy Scouts of America must adjust their plan to create the biggest sexual abuse compensation fund in the U.S. in order to win final court approval for the $2.7 billion proposal, a judge ruled.
The decision by a federal judge in Wilmington, Delaware, came after weeks of testimony from abuse experts, financial advisers and insurance specialists over whether it would be fair — and legal — for the Boy Scouts to route those abuse claims to the compensation fund instead of allowing them to proceed in court. The fund would compensate 82,000 people who claim they were molested while part of the 112-year-old organization.
In a complicated ruling of almost 300 pages that included more than 750 footnotes, U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Laurie Silverstein declined to make certain legal findings demanded by the Boy Scouts. One example was her refusal to make particular factual findings related to rules governing the trust fund’s distribution.
