By Fox23.com News Staff
WASHINGTON D.C. — CNN reports that the Supreme Court declined to review the $2.4 billion bankruptcy settlement for the Boys Scouts of America.
A group of victims — 75 out of more than 82,000 who filed claims against the Boy Scouts — argued that the justices should have reopened the settlement in light of a similar legal involving Purdue Pharma. In that case, the court rejected a bankruptcy agreement that would have shielded the Sackler family from future lawsuits.
Victims in the Boy Scout case want to sue independent councils that ran local scouting programs and third-party organizations. The groups contributed billions of dollars to a settlement trust for victims and, under the agreement, are shielded from future civil lawsuits.
The Boy Scouts of America filed for bankruptcy in 2020 after spending over $150 million to settle hundreds of abuse lawsuits between 2017 and 2019, according to court records. A federal bankruptcy court approved the reorganization plan in 2022.
Lower courts upheld the settlement agreement. The Lujan claimants appealed to the Supreme Court in October. In 2024, the court rejected an emergency appeal from the same group.
The Supreme Court did not explain its reasoning and the decision leaves in place an appeals court decision that found the way the Boy Scouts deal was structured largely shielded it from review by appellate courts.
