Insurer agrees to $800 million settlement in Boy Scouts bankruptcy
Attorneys in the Boy Scouts of America bankruptcy case have reached a tentative settlement under which one of the organization's largest insurers would contribute $800 million into a fund for victims of child sexual abuse.
The agreement announced Monday calls for Century Indemnity Co., which is owned by property and casualty giant Chubb Ltd., to contribute $800 million into the fund in return for being released from further liability for abuse claims. The payment would bring the amount of money in the proposed trust to more than $2.6 billion, which would be the largest sexual abuse settlement in U.S. history.
Under the deal, all Chubb companies would be broadly released from Boy Scouts-related legal claims, Chubb announced Monday.
The Boy Scouts, based in Irving, Texas, sought bankruptcy protection in early 2020 amid an onslaught of lawsuits by men who said they were sexually abused as children. The filing was part of an attempt to reach a global resolution of abuse claims and create a compensation fund for victims.
The settlement comes as more than 82,000 sexual abuse claimants face a Dec. 28 deadline to vote on a previously announced Boy Scouts reorganization plan.
That plan called for the Boys Scouts and its roughly 250 local councils to contribute up to $820 million in cash and property into a fund for victims. They also would assign certain insurance rights to the fund. In return, the local councils and national organization would be released from further liability for sexual abuse claims.
