Posted on 11/17/2020 7:01:25 AM PST by SeekAndFind
Sex abuse claims against the Boy Scouts of America have now surpassed 88,000, according to lawyers who represent victims who’ve filed claims against the organization.
Christopher Hurley, the managing partner with a law firm representing 4,000 survivors of childhood sexual abuse who say they were victimized while participating in the Boy Scouts, said in a statement to The Christian Post that there are over 88,500 victims that have come forward as of Monday, the deadline the bankruptcy court set for such claims.
“We knew the problem was severe and we knew it had been neglected by the Boy Scout organization for too long. But with 88,500 victims, the breadth and depth of the problem now feels overwhelming,” he said. “I have represented tragically injured people for 36 years but the number of broken, lonely men I have come to know over the last six months has had a profound impact on me personally.”
Hurley is the managing partner with Hurley McKenna and Mertz, P.C., a Chicago law firm representing survivors of childhood sexual abuse.
"I admire their courage for coming forward and their willingness to share their pain so that what happened to them may never happen to another child,” he added.
Other lawyers told The New York Times that over 82,000 abuse claims were made against the group as of late Sunday and that the number of sexual abuse cases filed against BSA far exceeds the number of cases linked to abuse claims in the Roman Catholic Church.
“I knew there were a lot of cases,” said Paul Mones, an attorney who has been working on BSA cases for approximately 20 years.
“I never contemplated it would be a number close to this,” noting that with the prevalence of the abuse the number may represent a mere fraction of victims.
The accusers range in age from 8 to 93.
The BSA has filed for bankruptcy but hopes to reemerge anew one day.
According to its bankruptcy filing, the organization founded in 1910 reportedly has over $1 billion in assets, much of it in real estate.
“The response we have seen from survivors has been gut-wrenching,” the BSA said in the statement, noting that it was “devastated by the number of lives impacted by past abuse in Scouting.”
“We are deeply sorry.”
Earlier this year, the BSA filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy amid the torrent of allegations, a move some argue was to veil their culpability.
"They’re going into bankruptcy not because they don’t have the money. They’re going into bankruptcy to hide … a Mount Everest in dirty secrets," said Tim Kosnoff, a lawyer who has tried thousands of child abuse cases, in an interview with USA Today earlier this year.
Abused in Scouting, a coalition of legal advocates that represents approximately 10,000 claimants that first sued the group in January, had urged all those with claims to file before the court-mandated cut-off date.
"You will forever lose your right to hold that group accountable once they exit the bankruptcy process,” AIS attorney Andrew Van Arsdale said, according to ABC affiliate WSBC-5.
From 2017 to 2019, the BSA said it has paid $150 million in settlements and legal costs.
The group has been dealing with litigation since 2010 when a significant case yielded $19.9 million in damages, the largest ever amount awarded to an individual claimant.
As a result of that case, several thousands of confidential documents that became known as the "perversion files" were released. Those documents contained the names of volunteers that had been banned from serving with the organization and how the BSA had documented both suspected and known abusers while failing to notify the authorities, parents and community about the scope of the problem.
BSA presently has around 2.2 million members, a figure that has declined from its highest number of approximately 5 million in the 1970s.
Pushing for and allowing homosexual troop leaders for the sake of diversity. What could go wrong?
My wife commented, “How much in assets can the Boy Scouts have left at this point?” They were never as rich as some other institutions where substantial amounts of abuse occurred, an example being the various Churches.
A massive nationwide non stop ad campaign on radio and tv by lawyers probably had something to do with it.
Where’s the “love is love” crowd on this one? Let homosexuals be around young boys and this is what you get.
so they can't exist if they don't allow gay scouts and they can't exist if they discriminate against gay leaders....
but boy are we going to sock them any way when the gays start attacking....
And the courts say perverts shall be leaders...no discrimination. Disgusting.
“Pushing for and allowing homosexual troop leaders for the sake of diversity. What could go wrong?”
And, openly homosexual scouts. What did they think was going to happen?
What did they think was going to happen?
The intent was to bankrupt and ruin the scouts. We cannot have boys turn into men in this new world, we need to feminize them and create more limp wristed liberals.
Exactly. They got what they really wanted....the destruction of another American institution.
They got what they really wanted....the destruction of another American institution.
Yep, a traditional institution with references to , gasp, GOD.
Dont know anyone diddled by the boy scouts. I know four who were diddled by priests. Where the is the Class Action against the Vatican?
this is all leading to legalizing gay man/boy sex....
your kids will be fair game....
Funny how the SJW points they earned by opening the Boy Scouts up to queers and girls haven’t been enough to save their bacon. As for the homosexual element, it seems like they quit trying to enforce the old prohibitions long before they formally buckled on the policy. Many parents of boys have been quietly bypassing the Scouts for a long while.
“The accusers range in age from 8 to 93”
A new lawyer jingle seems to be in the works... And so I’m offering this simple phrase... To kids from eight to ninety-three... Call 1-800-SCREW-BSA today to get small percentage of the money for thee.
Anywhere young people or kids gather there will be the perverts hovering around like vultures looking to prey on them, even joining the organizations and working from the inside.
It was always around - 30 years ago when my Son was active in Scouts, our Troop made a rule that only Fathers of Scouts could be involved. No single older men were allowed to be leaders.
The Council was a different story. Almost all of the full time Council Leaders were single middle-aged men.
Anywhere young people or kids gather there will be the perverts hovering around like vultures looking to prey on them, even joining the organizations and working from the inside.
Yep, knowing that fact we should have protections in place.
My father was molested by his Scout Master in the 1970s. He was not his first victim, but he was the one who lead to his arrest.
Unfortunately, there were people who suspected such and criminally turned a blind eye.
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