The Boy Scouts of America, a century old organization, officially filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy this morning.
This move is being done in an effort to set up a victim compensation fund to handle the thousands of survivors that have come forward alleging abuse when they were scouts.
Just last year, there was a report released by the New York Times that found nearly 8,000 perpetrators that were accused of assaulting scouts going back decades.
With New York joining with other states to provide a look back window allowing sexual assault survivors to sue no matter how long ago the abuse occurred, the Boy Scouts have been treading water financially.
By filing for Chapter 11, the Boy Scouts of America hopes to continue to operate while also providing compensation to victims of abuse.
Kathryn Barcroft, a lawyer who often handles lawsuits stemming from Me Too cases, who said that while this fund will help victims, they still might not receive the true justice they are looking for.
"There’s a concern. It’s a different pathway to justice and sometimes the monetary relief is not there if you take your case out of state court or a federal district court and move it to a bankruptcy court,. There are concerns about how you would be treated as a victim," Barcroft said.
Barcroft also explained that since claims will have to be filed through this fund, there will be a limited amount of money that victims would receive. They will more be lumped together and they might not feel like they had their full day in court. She says she is also worried that by the Boy Scouts for America filing for bankruptcy this might deter victims from suing, because people mistake bankruptcy to mean there is no money. Which is not true, the organization's assets equal out to around $1.4 billion.
The one very small silver lining in this, is that since these claims would be filed through federal bankruptcy court, victims will most likely receive compensation sooner. Usually a court case filed through the state can take years with an appeal process. But with this fund, victims could see their cases resolved in around a one and a half to two years.