MYCVAStory

ANY attorney can give his advice to his/her client at any time. They cannot provide advice on a plan that doesn't exist or give advice to clients that aren't theres. This is a tricky issue and in other mass tort cases the judge has been asked to stop robo-calling and automated texts. It will be interesting to see how far this goes before there's a lot of crying "FOUL."

If anyone wants to understand the mass tort ecosystem and aggregators, the WSJ did a great piece on it a couple years ago. https://www.wsj.com/articles/inside-the-mass-tort-machine-that-powers-thousands-of-roundup-lawsuits-11574700480 Sorry, it's paywalled and I'm not at work where I can do a little cuttin and pastin. But here's some more links to turn your stomach: Want to invest in the attorneys who play the mass tort game and need funding for all those commercials? https://www.yieldstreet.com/resources/article/mass-tort-and-litigation-funding/ and their fund: https://www.yieldstreet.com/offering/OkGumg/legal-finance-fund-ii Or how about jumping right in to the mass tort game as a lawyer: https://mtmp.com/ You could even attend a session where Ann Andrews from Coalition fame is the speaker. Just look at that lengthy history of representing victims of abuse: https://mtmp.com/speaker/anne-andrews/ She must be really good because she serves on the TCC! Earlier this year, I began serving on the Tort Claimants Creditors’ Committee in Boy Scouts I hope a TCC member or two is reading this and asks her to stop saying that. The deeper I look at this "industry" the more disgusted I get. And....don't get me started on the specialized aggregators.

That is a VERY important point. In the Q&A at last night's Town Hall MANY participants were asking if their attorney was a part of the Coalition, and many commented that their attorney was but they didn't support the plan. It's going to be interesting to see how this shakes out and whether all the high numbers the Coalition has been throwing around really become reality. I'm increasingly feeling like the BSA's finances aren't the only "melting ice cube."

The TCC can't "solicit" for a plan that hasn't been filed, and it can't be filed until exclusivity ended. The judge screwed them on this to get the BSA's plan out the door. This will come up in October. In the mean time it CAN say that it has a plan prepared. What it doesn't say is that it has "deals" with insurers. So, it needs to make teh case that the "deals" in place are garbage. That shouldn't be hard.

I have a hunch that the members of the TCC will now go after the Coalition at the Town Hall. Note to ANYONE who is NOT a victim...don't piss them off. The TCC has consistently spoken on behalf of all survivors, including the Coalition's. Now the Coalition is trying to make the TCC the enemy of Survivors? Like I said, I have a hunch the TCC isn't going to sit back for that. Survivors have decades of pent-up rage. It doesn't take much for it to come out.

Just a reminder, since I have a hunch the TCC is going to have a few things to say about all of this, the next Town Hall is Tomorrow (Thursday) night. From TCCBSA.COM: The next TCC Town Hall will take place on Thursday, September 30, 2021. (Click here to view the notice.) Zoom link: https://pszjlaw.zoom.us/j/82272826295 (no registration required) By phone: 888-788-0099 (toll free), webinar ID: 822 7282 6295. At this Town Hall, the TCC will discuss: (1) Status of Boy Scouts's bankruptcy case and (2) status of the disclosure statement and chapter 11 plan approval process.

Yep. And if you smelled a sense of desperation when Rothweiler spoke on and on from prepared remarks he read (after saying he didn't expect to be speaking) it might have to do with the fact that all those commercials and overhead and professional fees for Molton and company may be due and stacking up. Coalition cut of $752 million might help pay that.

And that the Coalition's acceptance already of lowball settlements "on behalf" of survivors, under the guise of getting them awards quickly, truly is as Stang said a "Race to the bottom."

TCC has announced/filed a notice of a Town Hall for Thursday night: PLEASE TAKE FURTHER NOTICE that the Tort Claimants’ Committee will hold a virtual town hall meeting on September 30, 2021 at 8:00 p.m. (Eastern Time); Zoom link: https://pszjlaw.zoom.us/j/82272826295 (no registration required) or Phone number: 888-788-0099 (Toll Free), Webinar ID: 822 7282 6295. At this Town Hall, the TCC will discuss: (1) Status of Boy Scout’s Bankruptcy Case and (2) Status of the Disclosure Statement and Chapter 11 Plan approval process.

TCC presses on how the FCR came up with his numbers. So the BSA just agreed that the FCR's number of $5 Billion is 21% of a larger number. My rough math makes that $24 Billion! Thanks BSA for pointing out how low your settlements are to this point!

Judge allows the $3500 box to stay on the ballot so the court will know who voted. HUGE win for the TCC!

Confirmation hearing is January 24. Parties are to cooperate to meet that and agree to scheduling and document production.

I meant today....handy use of that when she had lost control.

All of a sudden the judge is concerned about the BSA running out of money! How convenient for the BSA after 18 months of spending it. Judge indicates that she might be amenable to hearing the TCC motion to retain Claro for claims estimation. THAT would help!

Rothweiler tries to make people feel bad for HIM because everyone is against the poor mass tort attorneys and he has invested so much into this and its taken its toll. His comments go on and on and the judge has lost control of her courtroom. So the judge lets Rothweiler speak until he's done and now lets Stand speak but cautions him about time. Unbelievable.

CBRE, JLL and Keen Summit are the three valuation firms. The TCC engaged CBRE and Keen, while BSA engaged JLL. TCC analyses used valuation data provided by all three firms. BSA’s valuation analysis also uses information from all three. Let's hope the BSA does the right thing and allows this data and all the TCC dashboard data to be available to the public. Breath not being held. Transparency isn't a skill the BSA seems to have learned thus far.

The TCC contracted with three real estate appraisal firms who do this on a national scale. The appraisals ran from fairly simple to deep-dives into trust and restriction issues. It took a long time. Who paid? The BSA because it was a professional fee charged to the BSA as the debtor in this case because the debtor hadn't done it themselves.

Well....here's the bait and switch from the Coalition and FCR below. Note thatthey use the "CLAIM VALUE" of the plan to show a figure to 2.7 million. This is an arbitrary plan number that is the best estimate of attorneys for valuation. They "will be valued" but that does NOT, I repeat NOT, mean that any survivor can expect to see that amount. That little tidbit of information is conveniently left out. Survivors should hope that the judge allows for both sides to make their cases in letters to go in the voting packet and doesn't restrict the TCC from calling BS on this suggestion that people are a yes vote away from the claim valuation. Oh, and yes, the last line says basically "your mileage may vary" but what do you think people will focus upon? regardless, I'd anticipate a TCC Town Hall VERY VERY soon. I. What You Will Receive Under the Plan If the Plan is confirmed, a newly formed Settlement Trust will be established. Your claim against BSA, as well as any Local Council, and certain other “Protected Parties,” will be transferred to and paid from the Settlement Trust. The Settlement Trust will assess your claim in accordance with its Trust Distribution Procedures (TDP) and value the claim based on the type and extent of abuse suffered and other factors. Based on these factors, most claims will be valued between $3,500 and $2,700,000. If you do not wish to undergo the full claims evaluation process, you will be able to elect to receive a one-time payment of $3,500, prior to the start of that process. The Settlement Trust will collect funds from the BSA, its Local Councils, their insurers, and chartered organizations, and distribute available funds to survivors. As noted above, to date, there are settlements that will provide over $1.8 billion in initial funding to the Settlement Trust. The actual amount of your recovery, unless you select the one-time $3,500 payment, will depend on both the specifics of your claim and the amounts contributed to the Settlement Trust by, among others, insurance companies and chartered organizations in the future.

Realistically, a confirmation hearing in mid to late January. That will take 3-5 days.

Collecting date, like voting, is best done when you have VERY specific and logical methodology. The worst data always is produced when you collect it first and then say "Okay, now let's figure out what it means."

Theme of the day for the Judge: "We'll let this go and deal with it another time if we have to." Possibility of this creating a mess at another time: 100%. I suggested that she would learn from her Imerys mistakes. It appears I was wrong.

The parties should be able to develop a mechanism where claimants can "opt-out" of a home mailing. Might make some attorneys actually speak to their clients.

David Buchbinder is to be thanked by every single Survivor. He just forcefully convinced the judge that EVERY survivor deserves to get the paper documents and NOT required to request the full package as the BSA wanted. Shame on the BSA after ALL the expenses it has incurred to suggest that the SINGLE most piece of information for survivors would be too expensive to do. I should have added that this is the US Trustee.

Public as a court document.

But, because it came out of mediation it requires a "meet and confer" with the BSA before any LC dashboards are released. If the BSA doesn't agree then the TCC must file a motion to have the court agree to its release and this of course would allow the BSA to object. Let's hope that the BSA doesn't try to delay so that those interested in the financial picture of their LC might be able to learn a bit more, and victims will get a better idea of their LC's ability to pay. This is critical to an informed vote and transparent reorganization.