NEW YORK (AP) — Close to 90,000 sex abuse claims have been filed against the Boy Scouts of America as the deadline arrived for submitting claims in the organization's bankruptcy case.
The number filed by Monday far exceeds initial projections of lawyers who have been signing up clients since the Boy Scouts filed for bankruptcy protection in February in the face of hundreds of lawsuits alleging decades-old sex abuse by Scout leaders.
Eventually, the proceedings in federal bankruptcy court will lead to the creation of a compensation fund to pay settlements to abuse survivors whose claims are upheld.
The potential size of the compensation fund isn't yet known and will be negotiated.
