Victims of child sex abuse by the Boy Scouts of America now have a November deadline to file claims.
“At a time when millions of Americans are unemployed and preoccupied with basic survival, sexual abuse survivors need and are entitled to a reasonable period of time after they receive notice from the bankruptcy Court to reflect seriously and make a decision whether to file a claim in this case,” representatives for victims committee wrote in a court filing.
Boy Scouts have filed for bankruptcy and had initially proposed a deadline of 80 days after notice of the claims process was published. The Boy Scouts later proposed an October deadline.
The boy scouts filed for bankruptcy protection in an effort to stop the hundreds of lawsuits alleging sexual abuse. According to court papers, more than 12,000 boys have been molested by 7,800 abusers since the 1920s. The more recent cases date to the 1960s -1980s before the Boy Scouts made it mandatory to have criminal background checks for all staff and volunteers.
The Boy Scouts obtained an injunction halting lawsuits against the organization’s local councils as “related parties” in conjunction with the bankruptcy case. The 261 local councils are not listed as debtors in the bankruptcy, and although they run day-to-day operations for local troops, and are considered by the Boy Scouts to be legally separate entities.
