In May 2025, a federal appeals court let the Boy Scouts of America's bankruptcy plan stand. The plan created a trust to pay tens of thousands of sexual abuse claims. A group of survivors asked the U.S. Supreme Court to take the case, and in January 2026 the Court said no. Here is what the courts decided, and what they did not.
How the case reached the appeals court
The Boy Scouts of America (BSA) filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in Delaware on February 18, 2020. According to the appeals court, survivors and other creditors filed more than 100,000 claims by the November 16, 2020 deadline. Of those, 82,209 were unique and timely abuse claims.
The court's opinion also explains why BSA filed. Between 2017 and 2019, BSA resolved about 250 abuse claims one at a time. At the same time, many states passed revival laws that let survivors bring claims that had expired. By 2019, the court wrote, it was clear BSA could not keep defending claims one at a time.
The plan that followed set up a settlement trust to review and pay abuse claims. According to the court, the trust was funded by BSA, local councils, insurers and others, including money from BSA selling its old insurance policies back to its insurers. The plan took effect on April 19, 2023.
What the Third Circuit decided
On May 13, 2025, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit issued a precedential opinion. Two groups of survivors, representing 140 abuse claimants, had asked the court to throw out the plan. They pointed to the Supreme Court's 2024 decision in Harrington v. Purdue Pharma. That case held that the Bankruptcy Code does not allow plans that release claims against non-bankrupt parties without the claimants' consent.
The Third Circuit did not decide whether the BSA plan's releases would survive under Purdue. Instead, it dismissed the survivors' appeals as statutorily moot under section 363(m) of the Bankruptcy Code. In short, that rule protects certain completed sales, here the insurance buyback, from being undone on appeal. The court ruled for one group of insurers on a narrower issue and against another.
The survivors then asked the Supreme Court to hear the case, in Lujan Claimants v. Boy Scouts of America, No. 25-490. The Court denied the petition on January 12, 2026. A denial is not a ruling on the merits. It means the Third Circuit's decision stands.
How the trust pays claims
The appeals court described four ways claimants could seek payment under the plan's Trust Distribution Procedures:
- An expedited payment of $3,500 for eligible claimants who signed their own proof of claim
- Review under a claims matrix with six tiers
- A path that allows some claims to proceed in the court system
- An independent review option for certain claims
These figures are the rules of one bankruptcy trust. They do not show what any other survivor's claim is worth, in the BSA case or anywhere else. Every claim depends on its own facts and the law that applies.
Why this matters beyond scouting
The case shows how state revival laws can affect large youth organizations, and how bankruptcy can change the path a survivor's claim takes. The court also noted that BSA works with about 250 local councils and with chartered organizations, often schools, religious institutions and civic groups. How claims involving those related groups are treated can depend on the plan's terms.
Other organizations facing many abuse claims have also turned to bankruptcy. The Purdue ruling changed the rules for future plans that try to release claims against non-bankrupt parties without consent. The BSA plan was confirmed and took effect before that ruling, and the Third Circuit decided the appeals on mootness grounds.
Our page on institutional abuse explains how organizations may share responsibility for abuse, and our sexual assault and abuse page covers the broader picture.
What this means for survivors
If you were abused in scouting or another youth program, your options depend on your facts, the state where the abuse happened, and whether a bankruptcy case affects the organization. Deadlines vary by state and can be set by bankruptcy courts as well. A lawyer can review the specifics with you and explain what, if anything, still applies.
This article is general information about how these cases work. It is not legal advice, it does not create an attorney-client relationship, and no two claims are alike. If something here sounds like your situation, the useful next step is a conversation about the facts.
