Suffering from waning popularity and a bevy of sex abuse scandals that have drained the organization’s coffers, the Boy Scouts of America – an iconic organization founded by former President Teddy Roosevelt – is on the verge of filing for bankruptcy.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the Boy Scouts have gone so far as to hire a law firm, Sidley Austin LLP, to assist them with a possible chapter 11 bankruptcy filing.
The reason? The Boy Scouts are facing lawsuits a flurry of lawsuits related to sexual abuse scandals dating back to the 1960s. Fearing that it won’t be able to afford the costs of these lawsuits, the organization has apparently decided that bankruptcy – which could stop the litigation and give it a chance to negotiate – might be the best option.
The Boy Scouts have been at the center of sexual-abuse scandals in the past, and the organization is facing a number of lawsuits that allege inappropriate conduct by employees or volunteers in incidents dating back as far as the 1960s. Filing for bankruptcy would stop the litigation and would give the nonprofit a chance to negotiate with those who have sued.
Recently, this strategy has been embraced by organizations ranging from a handful of Catholic archdiocese to USA Gymnastics (which is facing extinction in the face of the legal backlash to the predations of former team doctor Larry Nassar).
Other organizations facing similar legal pressure have also turned to bankruptcy protection in recent years. More than 20 Catholic dioceses and religious orders have filed for chapter 11 protection to negotiate payouts to thousands of victims. And last week USA Gymnastics, the governing body for the sport, filed for bankruptcy as it faces lawsuits from decadeslong sexual abuse by the national team’s former doctor Larry Nassar.
A warning to employees sent out last week said the organization is considering all available options, suggesting that bankruptcy is very much on the table. At a time when membership in the organization is falling and revenue is drying up as groups like the Mormon Church pull funding, these lawsuits couldn’t come at a worse time.
The Boy Scouts released a letter to its employees Wednesday that said it plans to “explore all options available to ensure that the local and national programming of the Boy Scouts of America continues uninterrupted.”
Participation in the organization’s programs has fallen in recent years, though the group opened some of its programs to girls and transgender boys. The Boy Scouts currently have more than 2.3 million youth members. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, formerly one of the group’s largest sponsors, has said it will withdraw from Boy Scout programs. The church said it would develop its own program for young men.
And as if the sex abuse lawsuits weren’t enough, the Boy Scouts are facing a lawsuit from the Girl Scouts of America over the former’s decision to placate angry SJWs by allowing girls to join.
In November, the Girl Scouts filed a trademark lawsuit against the organization, saying its push for girls to join caused confusion and led to instances in which parents mistakenly signed their children up for Boy Scouts programs.
A Boy Scouts spokeswoman said the group is reviewing the lawsuit and that the expansion came “after years of requests from families who wanted” to participate in its programs.
During 2017 alone, the Boy Scouts paid $7.6 million to labor and employment law firm Ogletree Deakins, plus another $3.5 million to Ogletree in 2016 and $859,347 to that firm in 2015. In recent years, the organization has sued its insurers for refusing to cover the costs related to sex abuse lawsuits.
But in a time when boys are more focused on smartphones and video games than learning how to survive in the wild, these lawsuits might only be hastening the organization’s inevitable decline.
via RSS https://ift.tt/2Gd1B3S Tyler Durden