Boy Scouts of America announces proposed $800 million settlement with insurers for sexual abuse claims

The Boy Scouts of America (BSA) has reached a tentative agreement worth $800 million with insurance companies as it navigates to compensate the thousands of sexual abuse victims that have come forward over the past several years.

According to a press release on Monday, BSA made the deal with Century Indemnity Company and other Chubb companies to form and fund a trust to distribute an estimated $800 million in settlements. 

Sex abuse claims against the Boy Scouts skyrocketed after a court in 2012 ordered the release of internal BSA files on reports of abuse. As of November 2020, the organization was facing more than 92,700 claims of sexual abuse.

The agreement is still subject to state approval.

Some victims advocate groups have come out in support of the agreement as a significant step forward.

"The settlement announced today is the result of months-long and hard-fought negotiations between Coalition attorneys and various other parties," said Ken Rothweiler, co-founder of the Coalition of Abused Scouts for Justice. "We have always said that our goals in this situation are two-fold: making sure that current and future scouts are protected and building the largest compensation fund possible. Today was another step in the right direction."

Others were disappointed. A lawyer representing more than 1,000 male victims told CNN the deal was historic “only because it is one of the worst settlements in the history of child sexual abuse cases.”

BSA first proposed a “Victims Compensation Trust" when it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in February. President and CEO Roger Mosby said that while “nothing can undo the tragic abuse that victims suffered,” the bankruptcy filing and “proposed Trust structure” would help those who were abused.

BSA has since signed a $787 million dollar deal with Hartford Financial Services Group Inc., one of its largest insurers, and one for $250 million with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a longtime supporter. The settlements were made as Hartford and the LDS church looked to shield themselves from future payouts.