Justice Delayed For Mass Tort Survivors (Boy Scouts)

By: Donald L Swanson

Mass torts and resulting litigation are a reality of life in these United States.

But one of the truly shocking things about mass tort litigation, in recent times, is this:

• judicial delays override the wishes of mass tort victims for prompt payment of negotiated amounts.

A current example of such delays is the Boy Scouts confirmed bankruptcy plan. 

Chronology

Here is a short Chronology of the Boy Scouts bankruptcy plan—and the lapse of more than three years since confirmation without a final resolution:

September 2022—the Boy Scouts bankruptcy plan is confirmed;

March 2023—the plan confirmation is affirmed by a U.S. District Court;

April 2023—the confirmed plan goes into effect after the Third Circuit Court of Appeals denies motions to stay the confirmation order pending appeal;

October 2025—Petition for a Writ of Certiorari is filed (Case No. 25-490), asking the U.S. Supreme Court to reject the confirmed plan; and

December 2025—the “Coalition of Abused Scouts for Justice” files a Brief with the U.S. Supreme Court, asking the Court to deny certiorari and allow the confirmed bankruptcy plan to stand.

Significance of Delay to Victims

The Introduction portion of the Coalition’s December 2025 Brief explains the significance of the >3 years delay as follows (emphasis is added).

The survivors before the Court today experienced horrors that no child should ever go through. As innocent children, they joined the Boy Scouts, a hallowed American institution, to build character and make friends. They instead were sexually abused by adults they thought they could trust. These survivors have carried this abuse with them for a lifetime.

At long last, they are finally receiving compensation for their harms. No amount of compensation will remedy the survivors’ trauma or wipe the abuse from their memories. But for some survivors, the money is life-changing, allowing them to put their lives back together. For all, it gives a sense of closure—a recognition that the abuse happened, it was wrong, and those in charge are accepting responsibility.

The survivors fought hard in this bankruptcy to ensure that all victims are compensated fairly and equitably.

Survivors overwhelmingly supported the confirmed plan, and more than half have received their first distribution of funds. Respondents the Coalition of Abused Scouts for Justice and the Future Claimants’ Representative support the plan, as do the additional survivors represented by counsel identified below.

Petitioners are a tiny fraction of survivors, represented by a single firm, who mistakenly think they could have received more money had there not been a global resolution of these claims. They aim to send survivors back to square one and scrambling to reach the courthouse first.

The Third Circuit rejected petitioners’ efforts, dismissing their appeal under 11 U.S.C. § 363(m) because petitioners impermissibly sought to reverse a $1.65 billion insurance buyback that had not been stayed pending appeal. Petitioners now ask this Court to review that procedural ruling, claiming that injustice lies behind it. It does not, as the courts below all recognized. . . .

Survivors need closure. Their lives were upended by abuse decades ago, and many have struggled to keep their life on track since. For most, this bankruptcy plan marks the only realistic opportunity to receive compensation and closure.

Scores of survivors have already died during this bankruptcy, some from illness, some from old age, and some from suicide, as they could not bear to wait any longer.

This litigation must finally come to an end. The Court should reject petitioners’ request to setback this global resolution, decline their invitation to call for the  views of the Solicitor General, and deny the petition for certiorari without delay.

Conclusion

Delays that override the wishes of mass tort victims for prompt payment of negotiated amounts are, truly, shocking!

To prevent further delay, the U.S. Supreme Court needs to deny the pending Petition for a Writ of Certiorari at the earliest opportunity, which is at the next conference thereon (scheduled for tomorrow, Friday, January 9, 2026).

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