In December of last year, the Irving-based Boy Scouts of America announced that it might file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in response to a burgeoning number of lawsuits alleging sexual abuse by scouting leaders. They may still exercise that option.
Based on New York’s passage of the Child Victims Act in February, survivors of abuse now have until the age of 55 to file civil claims (the statute of limitations previously stated that survivors only had until the age of 23 to file lawsuits). In addition, starting tomorrow, the law provides for a one-year look back window, reviving cases that had previously expired.
HuffPost is reporting that the Seattle-based law firm Pfau Cochran Vertetis Amala will file more than 100 suits tomorrow, about 75 of which are against Roman Catholic dioceses in New York and about 25 of which target the Boy Scouts of America and Rockefeller University. The New York Times reports that a look-back window enacted in California in 2003 spurred more than 1,000 lawsuits, resulting in the Diocese of San Diego filing for bankruptcy protection.
