vol_scouter

For months, the approval has been set at ~2/3 and that has now been achieved. Seems to me that the BSA through mediation met the standard. Clearly, the judge is the final word but Omni confirms that it was accepted.

The local councils have meetings with the BSA National officials from time to time. Those meetings are typically informational and might provide predictions or information a day or so before it hits these pages. Local councils often leave positions unfilled for several months to save money or to increase flexibility in uncertain times. So your council could just have openings that they have not been able fill or some combination of conserving money and being flexible. I have heard nothing about the vote except there is hope that the plan is going to pass.

As the time that a vote total approaches, I encourage everyone to repeat the Scout Oath and Law several times to remind us how to treat one another. There are victims here who wish for the plan to fail. If it does, they will be pleased and if not, they will be very unhappy. Scouters wish for them to be compensated as they deserve some level of compensation. Also, this list is for Scouters interested in bettering Scouting. Many of us have been on these forums for many years. Though they want victims to be compensated, many (most ?) feel that the present plan is a good compromise.

The issue is that if a youth under the circumstances that you outlined were to be abused, the BSA can be liable. Youth have been abused entirely outside of Scouting with only the initial meeting of the perpetrator and victim occurring in a Scouting setting with the BSA being liable. So while your points are valid and well taken, the BSA must show that it has made Scouting safer for youth. I do not know if there is a happy middle ground or what it might be.

It is very doubtful that the assets of the independent local councils would ever go to national. Our council would not agree to that and our state's attorney general will fight the transfer of any council's assets within our state. We could pivot to a youth service organization and continue a youth service mission. The way in which you wrote the above sounds like the court is fighting the BSA which is not the case. The court should be committed to preserving the BSA while adjudicating the bankruptcy and the judge has said that in her comments. The state court lawsuits will drag on

The fallacy in your view is that the local councils will accept the TCC proposal. As they have inferred a doubling or tripling of the contributions will not be accepted in my opinion as a local council executive board for over 25 years. The TCC is not being realistic or reasonable. Obviously none of us have crystal balls but if this fails, the statute of limitations barred claimants risk getting nothing.

To me, if the desire is to provide the most equitable compensation to the most claimants, then one must vote approval of the RSA. This is because my understanding is that most claimants are statute of limitations barred. The current plan would provide all of them some compensation. If this goes to state courts, most of those claimants will get nothing unless there is a change in laws that may or may not happen. So to provide the compensation to all claimants and not exclude most, one must vote to approve the RSA.

You are absolutely correct. The local council’s exposure is a function of the number of claims, severity of alleged crimes, statute of limitations status, and likelihood of a severe judgement. There could be other factors as well. The council’s financial situation, unrestricted assets, size of council and other factors. The analysis is much more thorough than the TCC. Additionally, the TCC does not really understand the way councils work and their challenges but fellow councils do. If the current RSA is not approved, I predict that the average claimant ends up no better than

If this plan is not accepted by the court, local councils cannot contribute two to three times the current amount and will be forced into court with attorneys making money but likely little more for claimants. This entire situation is so sad.

Have been a Methodist my entire life and there is no money to be had in the local churches (many are supported by larger churches who are themselves barely making the budget).

That will likely not fly at all. My council is a medium sized council who lost about 50% of its members through covid and chapter 11 PR. This sum would be devastating. We would likely fight in court and/or file chapter 11. There just is not the money out there that the TCC says.

The representatives of the local councils worked out a formula that took into account size, financial situation, number of claims, and other factors. The formula has not been released to my knowledge. It was not promulgated by national. There has been historically a tension between national and the local councils so the local councils would wish to perform this process independently of national.

The Local Councils are independent charitable corporations that are controlled by their executive boards. The contributions were determined by representatives of the ~250 local councils to meet the total that national needed. The boards will make the final decisions - not the Scout executives. If national files chapter 7, the local councils are on their own will likely go down the chapter 11 path that enriches attorneys and provides less compensation than claimants believe as we have seen for the BSA.

Far easier to compensate 500 than 82,500. The entire BSA cannot provide the amount of money that many claimants feel would be fair.

The numbers that the TCC has suggested will likely not be approved by the local councils. The numbers are far too high and makes other options more viable. My personal opinion is that what the claimants will actually see in their bank accounts will likely be about the same or less than is being offered.

Just heard on the news that an insurance company who was not named is contributing $800 M to bring the total to $2.6 B. Anyone have more information?

The time to have done this was about a year ago when the allegations were first raised. Changing the value of a vote, the uncontested settlement amount, vet the claims, or vet the method that attorneys filed claims now is not fair. I agree that it should have been done but we are now to a vote so it is not the time to change such things. Seems to me that the process is deeply flawed.

The list of claimants was sent to the BSA who then matched names to registrations and councils. Whenever the BSA did not have a registration, it was sent to the council based on the geographic location of the alleged abuse. The councils looked into the computer databases and the paper records to try to verify that the claimant was in Scouting. There are a substantial percentage that could not be identified. As I said before, that does not guarantee that the claimant was not a Scout. Paper records could have been lost or destroyed in a flood or fire. Our council records are intact but the

The local councils and the national council have rosters of their members that are maintained. That said, some records can be lost and a few councils have experienced fires. Our council pays for professional storage and has for many years. Membership fees, until very recently, all went to national so national has 'complete' rosters. Youth can come to a few meetings without joining but being sure that everyone is covered by insurance compels units to require official membership. Once again, in our council there are a substantial percentage where there is no record locally or nationally of

They are all volunteers and pay for their travel to go to board meetings (though. since covid, the meetings have been video conferences). Meetings are often at breakfast that the BSA has supplied in the past.

As has been pointed out many times, the whole of Scouting does not have enough money to compensate the claimants as they wish to be compensated. I think that most if not all on these forums are sympathetic to victims and would like for them to receive treatment for their injuries - physical and emotional. The proposed settlement will hurt the local councils and the BSA. It cannot pay what most wish/demand. I want the BSA to go forward and hope that the proposal is approved. I respect other views.

Does it really demonstrate that? My interpretation is that Stang is a partner in PSZJ and will still receive a hefty fee for the role of the law firm. It seems that the mistake or possibly a deliberate act with a planned response if challenged does not affect the law firm. Perhaps Stang's share is slightly diminished but it could well not change depending upon how money is divided within the firm. Either these attorneys are not as good as everyone is making them out to be or they made a calculated move that they were prepared for the fallout.

As a board member, I receive council information. Since this chapter 11, the legal counsel requested that we not release any information. Whenever the attorney advises that the information can be released, the council will do so. My actions are in keeping with my obligations as a board member and in keeping with the Scout Law.

The simple answer is no as that information is not mine to release. As a board member who knows that we have to raise the money to operate the council every year, the TCC is not reasonable. The restricted accounts are truly restricted as we have never spent them except for the purposes for which they were given. The current agreement will be damaging but the TCC proposal will end in bankruptcy soon.

My council is being damaged by the proposed settlement. The numbers that the TCC wishes are too high and will result in rather rapid bankruptcy. The councils cannot afford to move all offices from a population center to a camp that is usually remote and an hour or two drive from the current offices. Wanting the TCC plan is wanting to dismantle the whole of Scouting. For those who are victims of abuse, this might be a goal or you do not care which are attitudes that I believe most of us understand and accept. Please understand that there are those of us who wish to see Scouting to move