MYCVAStory

The Stay only applied to Trust operations. The plan is still under appeal and scheduled for an April 9 hearing before the Circuit court of appeals. No one expects the Circuit to rule before SCOTUS does since any ruling would quickly be reversed if SCOTUS disagrees in Purdue.

You'll get lots of diverse answers to this. Personally, I think someone with a Scouting experience would make a big difference. The issue then is how you find that person. It isn't exactly something you advertise for! Step one is to get Council Exec buy-in. Then, reach out to existing volunteers. I've found a surprising number of Survivors that are still involved with Scouting, mostly because they wanted to prevent what happened to them from being repeated. Many have now come forward because of the Bankruptcy. My dream, pie-in-the-sky as it may be, is that National will show some leade

I appreciate your honesty. BSA National has not required Local Councils to have a Survivor on each Council's Board. They have jusrt "recommended" it. I don't want to get into a debate over "cherry-picking" such requirements or the legality but I will offer this; if you are dedicated to the future of Scouting AND the safety of youth, DEMAND that your Council has a Survivor on its Board and do what you can to make sure that his/her voice is heard by the leaders of EVERY unit. As Santayana said " “Those who forget their history are condemned to repeat it.”

The third-party releases don't specifically relate to the insurers as I think you mean. Their liability still exists and Survivors would be able to sue the BSA/Insurers as before the bankruptcy. BUT, insurers are skilled at delaying things a VERY long time and there ARE limits to their insurance. There are a great number of "what ifs" at play here but a real possibility if the plan does not move forward are two things: 1.) local councils in States where the SOLs are favorable to Survivors will head toward bankruptcy to receive direct benefit of bankruptcy and 2, failing that there will be

DOJ/UST is probably happy. It was objecting to the plan until that vanished. Buchbinder.....I remember well the hearing when he fell asleep with his head back and pen in his mouth, while we all looked on in horror fearing he was about to swallow it.

There really isn't a "staff" outside of the trustee and her two colleagues overseeing regular claims and the IRO. All others are contracted professionals. So, while I suspect the three won't get paid in the interim there's absolutely no reason for the contracted professionals to be getting paid unless they're representing the Trust legally. Shame on the Trustee for not calling a Town Hall to explain all of this. I have to believe that any court would see that action as reasonable. My thoughts are now with the pre-se claimants who don't have an attorney to help with unpacking all of this.

The Trust will go into administrative "mothballs" with no money disbursed. Look for the Trust to make a statement soon. Then, we will all wait for Purdue to be decided before June ends. No one knows if the Stay is a sign of good news or bad down the road. Those who say one or the other are guessing. In the meantime, just some perspective, 86% of the almost 60,000 voting Survivors approved the BSA plan and the TWO attorneys who filed for the Stay represent .2% (that's one/fifth of ONE percent) of all Survivors. In the case of Lujan from Guam, that attorney already successfully negotiated

In case any Survivors haven't heard....from the Trust: The Trust has now established a deadline for submission of Trust (“Matrix”) Claims Questionnaires. You must submit your Trust (“Matrix”) Claims Questionnaire and supporting documentation to the Trust by May 31, 2024. If you can submit these documents sooner, please do so as claims are reviewed on a first-in-first-out (“FIFO”) basis. Failure to submit a completed and signed Claims Questionnaire by this date will result in the denial of the Claim. If you have any questions or need help completing your questionna

For what it's worth, I compliment you so much for having the strength to come forward at that age. That's not typical and I worry about all the Survivors who someday will look back and add their silence, when the opposite was impossible, to the list of regrets. You encapsulated the feelings of many. The frustration, the inequity, the reality that bankruptcy is an ugly business and far from justice. Stay strong and know others gain strength from yours. To all those who now look forward to the BSA "moving on", I do get that and it's a reason that it declared bankruptcy. For now, our laws a

Let me break this down: 1. No, every case is not documented in BSA files. To those who understand what it means to being a Survivor that is no surprise. The age of coming forward, if at all, is well into middle-age. Again, if at all. On top of that, if you are in a State where the SOLs do not allow for a lawsuit to be filed you have even less motivation. For some, coming forward is part of their healing. For others, burying this deeper is how they keep control in some way. 2. The bankruptcy produced an environment of "now or never" when it comes to admitting what happened to

Perhaps, but I've been struck by the number of professionals who said prior to the claims coming in "We don't have a problem" and then were shocked down the road when they saw otherwise. This is also a matter of scope that must take into account the number of youth served. Logically the more youth served the greater the chance for abuse. This is especially true for youth-on-youth abuse. Again though, it is/was a problem for all Councils. The summary of claims attached lists the Councils on the claim forms. NOTE: 38,000 Survivors did NOT indicate their Council at the time of filing a cla

No. All the Appellate Court said essentially was "We aren't going to dismiss the appeal at this point, we'll hear it." As well, the Trust is proceeding as previously because a confirmed plan is in place and has not been stayed. If anything, the Trust with each day will be working to make a stronger mootness case that the plan is far enough along. So while I'm sure the BSA wanted the appeal tossed without comment it wasn't unexpected that it would be heard. Interestingly, there are rumblings that SCOTUS will make its Purdue Pharma decision before its term ends in June, perhaps in April. I

In a nutshell, where we are right now: 1. A couple different attorneys representing a few hundred Survivors (and I think the non-settling insurers) are pushing an appeal that now rests with the appellate court. One of those attorneys represents clients in Guam that already are getting settlement dollars as agreed upon by the Catholic Diocese there in a separate bankruptcy. 2. Supreme Court has taken up the issue of non-consensual third-party releases via the Purdue Pharma bankruptcy that included the Sackler family as recipients of releases in exchange for their financial contribu

Tell me, what Councils did you work in? I ask because you make it sound as if there were no issues under your watch. I'd love to know which Councils didn't have a problem. As well, I wouldn't crow too much about being on the inside during the 70's through 90's. Claims from that period were at their highest. Below is the summary of claims. You might want to read it. As well, just a friendly reminder to all, like him of not, Michael Johnson stated that HALF of the YP reports he read were youth on youth. We seem to forget that when we talk about all the safeguards in place. At any rate, a

The whole "Being offended is a choice" is an interesting issue. This piece is food for thought: https://thirdhour.org/blog/life/being-offended-is-a-choice-as-cop-out/ For Survivors, it often isn't a choice. For many, working on making that better is a lifetime sentence.

Tell the 10,000 Survivor claimants since then that the abuse cases going back so long ago should make them feel better? If anything, the fact that the BSA had such a long history of abuse AND knew enough to fix it should sting even more for those who were abused more recently. As far as lawsuits, they remain against the abuser and every day I want mine to remember that the day is approaching when mine will commence. What doesn't remain, are the lawsuits against any enablers within the BSA. Time will tell whether that's a topic the DOJ will be looking into.

Agree 100%. My comment was in response to someone stating that the reorg will hurt kids' opportunities. At the end of the day that's 100% in the hands of the entity that voluntarily entered bankruptcy and those who joined in because it was in their interest to do so, the National and Local organizations. Time will tell!

SO....Judge Silverstein has ruled on the Coalition's Substantial Contribution Payment and has decided they get....NOTHING. That's right, they requested the BSA pay what, $20 million for the lawyers and professionals to represent it when it tried to strong-arm a settlement that the Survivors voted down!? The opinion is below and it's a doozy. Basically, "you were representing a constituency that the TCC already represented.", "You took credit for everything and that was objected to.", "You told the Court when you wanted to become a mediation party that the State Court Counsels who made up th

I found the materials on line that listed the individual cases and included the documents and I did read a fair number to get an idea of how serious the suit was and yes, it was serious but none of the cases I saw included any professionals as abusers (I certainly expect there were some, just not the ones I read) but mainly volunteer adults and in some cases adults that were not even registered but affiliated through the chartered partner or as a relative of a youth member. I would change my mind if you can direct me to the documentation that shows that BSA employees were the abusers in signif

I listened closely to the SCOTUS hearing today, and spoke to several attorneys after, all of whom have a history in reading SCOTUS "tea leaves." What made today a bit tricky were the underlying feelings/hatred for the Sacklers. Cutting through that though this dealt with the existing law and the inconsistency between Districts as to how they treat third-party releases. The media is portraying this as the Court having strong feelings both ways. It usually does because it queries attorneys on both sides of their arguments. My takeaway, and it was confirmed by the attorneys I spoke to, was

That's just a portion, but I beg you, please, spend some time and go WAY back to dig into the posts on this topic. While there are opposing views, there is a great deal to be learned from the posts. In the words of the late Senator Moynihan, "Everyone is entitled to their own opinions but they are not entitled to their own facts."

Sent out from the Trustee retired Judge Houser: As I noted when we announced last week’s opening of the claims processing portal, the Scouting Settlement Trust is committed to transparency and open dialogue. Please join me and Claims Administrator Randi Ilyse Roth for the first of what will be periodic Town Halls on Tuesday, Aug. 29 at 8 p.m. EDT / 5 p.m. PDT. During this hourlong online session, Randi and I will introduce ourselves and discuss our roles as mandated by the approved Plan of Reorganization and the Trust Distribution Procedures. We will also provide a high-

These attorneys appealed to the Circuit, and the Circuit said "Nice try, you need to start with the District." They have previously objected at the District level and lost. This is another shot, this time a stay, on slightly different grounds.

Yes, but that doesn't mean claimants get any more money, or that it "should" run out. The Trust will make awards based on projections for all claimants. I'm probably not saying that correctly. Bottom line is that there isn't a financial advantage to being first in line. Also, I've heard some attorneys will slow-roll in case clients' abusers get reported by someone else first. That might bolster a claim. Fingers crossed the Trust is going to address questions like this.

This will be an excellent opportunity for the BSA to comment on the YP agreements in the bankruptcy settlement, announce the third-party it's going to hire to consult with, and not sound tooo defensive. We'll see. Oh, remember as well that there must be a mechanism so that the public can find out how many YP infractions have occurred in the past with a specific troop. That transparency will mean more than any back-and-forth over press releases. Only thing is this, all the transparency in the world won't help if children don't report their abuse. We know many do not.