LDS Church pays $250m to settle scouting sex abuse claims

[IHAQ]

The Boy Scouts of America on Tuesday secured more than $1 billion in new settlements to resolve sex abuse claims, with $787 million coming from insurance group The Hartford and another $250 million from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, one of its chartered organizations.

Link

Your donations being put to good use.

[Philo Sofee]

Just wow.

[Dr Exiled]

I guess it's good that the lawyers involved could pry a little out of the church's wallet. Abusers are probably among all groups, but, overzealous adherence to the false narrative of superiority leads to cover-up and lawsuit settlements such as this. Perhaps it's time for Mormons to come down off of the false mountain and join society? Maybe "God's chosen people," assuming God exists, are all people? I think if the church leaders were willing to admit that all cannot be well within the ranks, perhaps the cover-ups would lessen? However, humble superiority is what they sell and sales might fall if mediocrity were acknowledged.

[Sledge]

The Boy Scouts of America on Tuesday secured more than $1 billion in new settlements to resolve sex abuse claims, with $787 million coming from insurance group The Hartford and another $250 million from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, one of its chartered organizations.

Your donations being put to good use.

More useless clickbait. This has almost nothing to do with the church, which is mentioned as

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is one of many organizations that fund scouting activities and troops and that have also faced sex abuse claims.

[IHAQ]

I guess it's good that the lawyers involved could pry a little out of the church's wallet. Abusers are probably among all groups, but, overzealous adherence to the false narrative of superiority leads to cover-up and lawsuit settlements such as this. Perhaps it's time for Mormons to come down off of the false mountain and join society? Maybe "God's chosen people," assuming God exists, are all people? I think if the church leaders were willing to admit that all cannot be well within the ranks, perhaps the cover-ups would lessen? However, humble superiority is what they sell and sales might fall if mediocrity were acknowledged.

It would be enlightening to known how the negotiations went behind then scenes. Particularly the calculation of number of abused kids and how much each of them the Church thought they should get to cover up each instance. The other thing I'd like to know is what the Church has learned from this and how programmes involving kids have been made safer.

Has the Church offered an apology?

[drumdude]

Has the Church offered an apology?

“We are sorry if you feel that way.”

[IHAQ]

The offered amounts have not been well received...

On September 14, 2021, the Official Tort Claimants' Committee (TCC) in the chapter 11 bankruptcy of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) announced that it does not support the BSA's proposed settlements with Hartford Insurance Company ($787 million) or The Church of Jesus Christ Latter Day Saints ($250 million). The TCC, represented by Pachulski Stang Ziehl & Jones LLP (PSZJ), views the settlements as grossly unfair to the 82,500 survivors who were sexually abused as children. The TCC was appointed by the Office of the United States Trustee as the official representative for all survivors of childhood sexual abuse and it will not sell out survivors for a quick pay that does not deliver the justice they deserve.

The TCC calls attention to major flaws contained in the proposed settlements. The Church of Jesus Christ Latter Day Saints (LDS) is not paying reasonable compensation for the broad releases of the sexual abuse claims that occurred in local councils controlled by LDS. LDS had direct involvement in every aspect of the Scouting program. If approved, the proposed settlement yields an average $3,000 payment for each claim. Instead, the TCC maintains that LDS is being handed a "get-out-of-jail card" in exchange for an unreasonably low sum.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/tort-cla ... Qx43ZK2dEj

That suggests there are more than 80,000 claimants (abused kids) against the LDS scouting program. Why did the Prophet not intervene at any point?

"In a case where half of the abuse includes multiple instances of penetration and masturbation of children, payments in the range of $10,000 - $12,000 do not begin to justly compensate survivors," said James Stang of PSZJ. "The Tort Claimants' Committee will oppose the LDS and Hartford settlements and any other settlements that fail to compensate survivors fairly," Stang added.

[Res Ipsa]

More useless clickbait. This has almost nothing to do with the church, which is mentioned as

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is one of many organizations that fund scouting activities and troops and that have also faced sex abuse claims.

I disagree. The settlement fund is part of a settlement reached earlier between the BSA and claimants in sexual abuse cases. What BSA gets out of that settlement is a release of liability from those claims.

But BSA does not have the financial ability to fund the entire settlement fund. To give other sources of funds incentive to contribute, the local councils, chartered organizations, and insurance companies were not included as parties to be released in the BSA settlement agreement.

If the Church sits back and lets other Parties fund the settlement, it will still be exposed to liability for sexual abuse in LDS sponsored trips. Plus, it could be liable to the BSA for any breaches in the charter requirements that resulted in abuse being permitted to occur.

There is no incentive for the LDS Church to fork over a quarter of a billion dollars unless it is getting something of value in return. I don’t whether the reporter in this article was just sloppy or whether the terms of whatever agreement was made are “confidential”, but if anyone thinks the LDS Church paid this much money without getting a release from the individual abuse claimants in the bankruptcy, they simply have no idea how settlements actually work.

This has everything to do with the LDS Church buying complete peace on an enormous bundle of sexual abuse claims, avoiding the risks of trial and discovery. And a quarter of a billion bucks isn’t “almost nothing.”

[MG 2.0]

That suggests there are more than 80,000 claimants (abused kids) against the LDS scouting program. Why did the Prophet not intervene at any point?

Trust. And delegation of authority.

Joseph had a predisposition to trust his associates also. Priesthood leaders have always delegated authority with the hopes that leaders down the line could be trusted because of their discipleship and commitment to Christ. Problem is, and I’m sure GA’s and SP’s have learned some lessons by now, that people are people and that men are going to, in some instances, do bad things.

At times like this it’s good to know that the church has financial reserves. There are always going to be unforeseen events of one kind or another coming down the pike.

Regards,
MG

[Res Ipsa]

Here is the complete text of the Tort Claimant Committee’s statement:

https://www.pszjlaw.com/newsroom-news-b ... ments.html