The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to hear a challenge to the Boy Scouts of America’s landmark $2.46 billion settlement for sexual abuse claims, effectively solidifying the agreement.
The decision on Monday thwarts an attempt by 144 abuse survivors to pursue legal action against churches and other organizations that operated scouting programs where abuse occurred.
These claimants argued the 2022 bankruptcy deal improperly barred them from suing third-party organisations, which gained immunity in exchange for financial contributions.
Although the Supreme Court later ruled that bankruptcy courts lacked authority to extinguish lawsuits against non-bankrupt contributors, this precedent did not apply retrospectively to older cases like the Boy Scouts’ agreement.
Lower courts, including the Philadelphia-based 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, upheld the settlement, deeming disruption at this late stage unfair to both survivors and Scouting America, the organisation’s new name.
Scouting America, insurers, and other abuse survivors who backed the agreement had urged the Supreme Court not to intervene, warning that unravelling the settlement would unleash devastating emotional and financial repercussions, potentially forcing reclamation of funds from claimants.
The Boy Scouts sought bankruptcy protection in 2020 after U.S. states introduced legislation allowing accusers to pursue claims relating to decades-old abuse allegations, leading to a surge of new legal actions.
The Supreme Court had previously declined to halt the settlement in 2024, allowing the agreement to proceed while appeals continued in lower courts.
Boy Scouts of America had a huge rebrand last year, donning a new name of Scouting America, a welcoming sign as the organization tries to move past scandal and bankruptcy.
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“The fact that we were going with a more kind of gender-neutral name, a lot of people kind of wanted to know more about it,” president and CEO Roger Krone said.
The rebrand is among momentous events the tradition-steeped organization has seen over the last decade, including its 2020 bankruptcy filing amid a flood of claims from tens of thousands of people — mainly men — who said they were abused as young scouts.
Also, the organization began allowing gay youth in 2013 and ended a blanket ban on gay adult leaders in 2015. And in 2017, it announced that girls would be accepted as Cub Scouts as of 2018 and into the flagship Boy Scout program — renamed Scouts BSA — in 2019.
