Eagle1970

I'm almost 66 and won't allow this to consume my setting sun. I'm NOT headed to court. Missouri has its head up its @ss with trying for 10 years to eliminate the civil SoL for child sexual abuse. The lawmakers let it die every time since 2013. I don't think they ever really considered BSA victims. Mostly it was alter boys and Marianist students. Either way, the Insurers and Churches beat it down. I moved away. It is what it is. Funny how they had NO problem eliminating the criminal SoL. Let the state have its way and torture the victims while they testify and risk their lives. But we ain't gonna make our insurance companies pay you no money! I will never understand just how they can justify eliminating the criminal SoL but not so much as a window for civil. Please explain it to me. I do understand you seeking justice through your state court. Most states are more reasonable than Missouri. And yes, there are theories, such as delayed realization and various forms of concealment, but I don't have it in me. Lord knows I had NO IDEA of how badly this abuse had impacted me until I joined the BSA BK club. But I'm going to take the chump change they offer in the bk and give them all the information on the predator. However, I'm not testifying, prosecuting, suing or anything else. When I was younger, I really wanted to. I couldn't sue because I was just past my civil SoL AND my abuser was protected by a criminal SoL. Now he's not. He's old, I hope he's dead. I'm getting old too. Just have to get past this.

The degree of injury to some survivors leaves me nearly in tears.

I'm not getting involved in moderator matters. But on the counseling, the last place I would go is through BSA. Not even a 3rd party arranged by BSA. Again, only those who suffered child sexual abuse would fully get this.

These old policies were written on an "occurrence" basis, meaning if it was a $1M policy limit, they could pay that limit to countless claimants under the policy term. So if we have tens of thousands of victims who are not time-barred, that is tens to hundreds of billions in potential exposure. So why would an insurer be settled out for $1B? I always thought the contribution from insurers would be so much higher. Can anyone break this down for me?

Well stated. I'll trade my way out of Greyville in my closed state any day, and the $7500 that will go with it, if I'm lucky. But whether it is $3500 or $7500 or $39,000 it is pitiful. We cannot look at this as any sort of just compensation. Rather, it is a token. And that's all it will ever be.

It's like the guy who murdered his family 40 years ago and then went on to lead a clean life. He is still responsible for his crime and has a debt to society. Without the Catholic Church, I would have never been in the situation where my abuser could get to me. Had I been able to file suit, they would clearly have been a party. Yet, due to SoL, I have never been compensated for the twists and turns my life has taken as a result. Basically, the church escaped on a technicality, as did the BSA. I commend churches for the good they may do. And I hold them responsible for sins of their past. They, and the BSA are simply reaping the pain they caused in the past, in the form of low membership.

The Catholic Church is directly responsible for my abuse. Though SoL, by way of state legislators may leave them in the clear, its moral responsibility should remain. And THAT is reflected in reduced membership in the Scouts AND Church.

I really hope they validate the claims, at least to a reasonable degree before dolling out what money there is.

Meanwhile, announced tonight is that Nassar's 500 victims will share a $380M settlement, while some BSA victims on the low end of the range may receive $1000, which these days is a trip or two to the grocery store. Wow.

Right. My brain is fuzzy from spinning around. "Anonymous" meaning all of my personal information will be sent to my local council and probably involve my troop leaders, with my name, address, phone, email and details of my abuse I almost never share. It is maddening.

At this point, the only justice will be in vetting. If given the opportunity and with NOW knowing the recovery will be miniscule, many claimants will voluntarily withdraw. So, get on with the vetting. Do like the SBA did on the Covid fraud and make a couple of examples of false claims public. Give an easy out and I bet the claim count drops in half. As far as it goes for me, as I have said all along, take a camp with a nice view and make it a monument for victims/survivors. I will go there, maybe meet a friend or two, spend a little time cussing and crying and try to file this in a compartment where I can live the years I may have left, in peace.

I'm really interested in how the contingent-fee attorneys will walk back all of that big confidential money to their clients that they dangled in the commercials. God only knows how many of the 82,500 never really had a claim. But, you know, "confidential" and "just compensation" are pretty enticing. Between the disappearing money for attorneys, grey state reductions and the like, I will probably receive nothing. Oh, but I was able to re-live the experience, have all of my personal information shared with my Local Council and who knows what they did with it, and so on. That means, for a BS lie from the BSA, my private world is now open, probably to be leaked in a data breach and in the end, all I did was help the LC and the hourly attorneys with THEIR positions. As the victim, I am a victim all over again. Suffice it to say, my support for scouting has waned.

I trained Race Horses for over a decade. Once a storied sport, complete with celebrities and grand celebrations of well-dressed enthusiasts, it was transformed into a closed society where homeless and jobless sought shelter and minimal wages. Over 20 years, the entire industry consolidated into few regional tracks that are largely populated by the aged, still attached by a tether to their younger days, with little participation from younger generations. And the gambling that drove it didn't miss a beat in going online, apps, casinos and so on. Simply stated, life changes. And so it is with scouts. When I was a boy, it seems like the cool kids were scouting. These days, they are doing other things, some I understand and others I don't. Some are healthy and some are not. But life changes. And scouting has the additional baggage of a history of abuse, which is front and center now. I saw a post on fb this week about a troop having had its equipment trailer stolen. The key post was something about having one less opportunity for the perverts to abuse the boys. Seems cold, but not so unrealistic. My wife and I still explore, but not as a part of an organized group. If I were still raising children, I would still spend time with them and would still explore, but would not entrust them to BSA or any other group where I could not be there for them. I do not see BSA surviving as in the past, though it may take time for the candle to completely wear out. And don't get me started on the Catholic church. Suffice it to say this is Sunday morning and I am not in the 3rd pew.

I do not have a link. But I saw the ads. And a lot of comments in every direction including ugly.

To me, part of the justice is in validating the claim. I look forward to giving details of my abuse and I only hope my abuser, a BSA camp employee, is still alive to face it. The Facebook ads were off the charts, as were the television commercials. The entire process has been gut wrenching. I'm in a closed state so I'm not going to be compensated to any significant extent. All I am doing with my comments is trying to help others recover what they have coming. I never thought I'd agree with an insurer on this. But I wholeheartedly support vetting these claims. That should have been step one!!!

I don't mean to be cold. Blessed with a great memory, or at times cursed. I'll wager you remember something, though, like where you held your meetings, attended camp, a hike you took....

I'm sure there will be many cases of missing records after so many years. Then it becomes a matter of the claimant providing at least some little morsel of proof. Could I join the Talcum Powder case without proof of ever sprinkling it on me? Or the Roundup case without proof I ever bought it? I doubt it. There is so little money to go around in this case, vetting seems reasonable and I would welcome someone contacting me. On top of my own documentation, I could name 20 other scouts I participated with-after 50 years.

However, IF they are unable to document the case, the former scout should be able to furnish something to rectify that failure, such as names of fellow scouts, patrols, camps attended, scoutmaster name and so on.

In your case, you would have plenty of documentation that the claim and participation as a scout was legit, whether or not he is on the records. The purpose of vetting is to validate your claim and eliminate those with zero substantiation.

As a victim/survivor, the last thing I want to do is be cold to anyone with a legitimate claim. However, it's just not that hard to document you were a scout, like an affidavit from a fellow scout or at least something. I still have all of my paperwork and awards from the 1960's, and certainly have the ability to contact living former fellow scouts. It seems to be a pretty low bar for any kind of legal claim. Frankly, with all of the advertising and talk of big bucks for claimants, this is ripe for fraud and the insurers have the right to at least cursory vetting. I have read lately about the large percentage of covid relief fraud compared to the legitimate payments. And fines with jail time didn't seem to slow that down. So, anything these days that is not documented should be vetted. If a claimant cannot even give the name of a former fellow scout, that's a pretty tall leap for me to judge as legitimate.

These 4 have run through my thoughts repeatedly. Especially masochism lol.

I don't know what they really thought. I would have thought, with constant media and commercial attention that there would be hundreds of thousands. And I also thought there would be large settlements from insurers in the near term. So, I absolutely hold them responsible for misleading me and others. At this stage of my life, I definitely did not need to rip this back open. But when I read that, I thought it would finally be time for some justice. Not so much.

I'm not an attorney. But I have been informed that the SOL can be tolled based on several potential grounds. With that in mind, a lawsuit may still be allowed to proceed in a SOL state. Therefore, releases in bankruptcy are necessary. And while the compensation is much lower in a grey or closed state, the potential for a valid claim remains and has to be settled. Personally, I'm disgusted by the inequity that allows a minimal assault in an open state to be more highly compensated than a victim of repeated severe assault in a closed state. It doesn't surprise me in this country, and this age where everything seems politically driven. But I really can't allow myself emotionally to even care anymore. I'm just pissed off that BSA indicated we would be fairly compensated and the reality is that we will likely see pocket change.

Any victim can go to town on this forum, as far as I am concerned. There will be little justice in this case. And to those who were tortured by leaders, or in my case, BSA employed camp counselor, and are in a closed or grey state, working through this is about all they are going to get.

The state of my abuse, Missouri, allows for prosecution without SOL but excludes civil actions, since the legislators are in bed with the insurers. Wrap yourself around that one. The state can get even but the victim gets nothing. I could risk my safety and that of my family to prosecute my attacker, and could not even be reimbursed for gas money to get to court. To your point, laws are changing before our eyes and lookback windows are being created. So, to the extent that is on the table, we have to be part of the bankruptcy.