On February 18, 2020, the Boy Scouts filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy as a result of lawsuits brought by survivors of childhood sexual abuse.  We filed many of those lawsuits on behalf of our clients and we are actively involved with the bankruptcy proceedings.

BOY SCOUT BANKRUPTCY PLAN — OUR RECOMMENDATION TO OUR CLIENTS IS TO VOTE “NO”:  We will recommend that our clients vote “NO” on BSA’s proposed bankruptcy plan.  At the last possible minute, the BSA finally disclosed estimates of how much individual abuse survivors might actually receive under its proposed bankruptcy plan and the current proposed global settlement fund.  You can read more about these estimates, and calculate an estimate for your own claim, by clicking here.

If you filed a claim in the Boy Scout bankruptcy, and if you are represented by an attorney, please ask the attorney if they support this proposal, and if so, why they support it.  If your attorney has questions, please ask them to contact us.

Boy Scout Claim Numbers in New Jersey:  On March 11, 2021, the “Tort Claimants Committee,” which is a committee of abuse survivors appointed by the bankruptcy court to represent the interests of all abuse survivors, published a report that details the approximate number of claims filed in each state, the number of claims filed against each local council, and the number of claims filed against each chartering organization.  You can read the full report by clicking here (clicking this link will open a new browser window with the TCC’s report).

While much attention has been paid to the 85,000+ claims that were filed nationwide, the TCC’s report reflects that approximately 2,198 claims have been filed that allege abuse related to New Jersey.  The report notes that these numbers are likely low because approximately 7,186 claims did not provide a location of abuse.  The TCC’s report illustrates the exposure faced by the local councils in New Jersey, and why every abuse survivor must demand that these councils disclose how much they are going to contribute to the bankruptcy if they want to settle the claims they are facing:

Northern New Jersey Council:  486
Patriots’ Path Council:  266
Garden State Council:  217
Monmouth Council:  104
Jersey Shore Council:  95

The report notes that these claim numbers will likely increase, possibly by significant amounts, because roughly 39,177 claimants did not identify a local council in their claim form.

Boy Scout Survivors — Protect Your Rights Against Local Councils and Sponsoring Orgs:  Many abuse survivors in New Jersey remain unaware that they likely have a claim against the local council and/or chartering organization that was responsible for their Scouting unit.  More importantly, many abuse survivors also do not realize that they may need to take steps to protect their legal rights against those entities — filing a claim in the bankruptcy court did not protect those rights.  If you have a claim that could be filed in New Jersey, you likely need to file a lawsuit against these entities before the statute of limitations “window” closes on December 1, 2021.  If you need more information about these issues please contact us to make sure you know your legal options, and be aware that some lawyers are not advising their clients of these claims or the need to take steps to protect them.

Bankruptcy Deadline / Learn Your Legal Rights:  The bankruptcy court set a November 2020 deadline for abuse survivors to file a claim in the bankruptcy regarding the Boy Scouts of America (national).  HOWEVER, you may still be able to pursue justice even if you missed that deadline because that deadline did NOT apply to the Boy Scout local councils or the “chartering organizations” who sponsored individual Boy Scout troops and Cub Scout packs.  However, if you have a claim under New Jersey law, you likely need to file a lawsuit before December 1, 2021, to protect these claims under the statute of limitations.  Please contact us to learn your legal options and to ensure your legal rights are protected.

Boy Scout Perversion Files: We represent dozens of people who survived sexual abuse by Scout leaders in New York and other states.  Most people have heard of the sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic Church, but many do not realize that the Boy Scouts of America has had a similar problem.  Since the early 1900s, the Boy Scouts of America maintained a list of individuals that it deemed to be “ineligible” to volunteer, and many of those individuals were added to the list over allegations of child sexual abuse.  Unfortunately, despite knowing that thousands of sexual predators had used the Boy Scouts program to groom and to target children, the Boy Scouts failed to take reasonable steps to warn Scouts or their parents of the danger.  To the contrary, for many years the Boy Scouts actively tried to conceal the problem.

On this page, you will find the names of individuals from that list who were associated with a troop in New Jersey, along with a link to some or all of the file that the Boy Scouts maintained on the individual.

Important note:  Please do not be alarmed if you were abused by a Scout leader and his name is not listed below.  For many years the Boy Scouts destroyed the files of men after they died, and many of our clients were sexually abused by Scout leaders that are not on the list.  The names below are only from files that have been made public — there are at least hundreds of other files that have not yet been made public, so the person who abused you may very well be in those files.  Please know any recent reports claiming that these files are “new” are not accurate — we first obtained these files in discovery almost 20 years ago.

If you or someone you know were abused by a Boy Scout leader or volunteer, even if it was decades ago, please contact an attorney to learn your legal options.