Boy Scouts settles with 2 abuse victim groups for $1 billion
The Boy Scouts of America reached settlements totaling more than $1 billion with insurers and two of the three main groups representing abuse victims, a mediator said in a court filing.
Under the deal, Hartford Accident and Indemnity Co. and three other insurers will contribute $787 million to a trust fund for victims, retired bankruptcy judge Kevin J. Carey said in a court filing Tuesday. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which has run scouting programs for decades, will pay $250 million, Carey said.
A committee representing victims who will file claims in the future and the Coalition of Abused Scouts for Justice both agreed to back the settlement, Carey said.
The third major victim group, the Official Tort Claimants’ Committee, opposes the proposed deal, the panel said in a statement published by its lawyers.
“As each month passes in this bankruptcy case, the Boy Scouts’ bankruptcy becomes less about the survivors and more about how the Boy Scouts will exit bankruptcy at the expense of survivors,” Doug Kennedy, vice chair of the TCC, said in the statement.
The Boy Scouts organization, based in Irving, Texas, sought bankruptcy protection in February 2020, halting hundreds of lawsuits and creating a compensation fund for people who were molested in their youth decades ago by scoutmasters or other Boy Scout leaders.
Since then more than 80,000 claims have been filed related to alleged abuse. The organization and its local councils have already pledged to contribute about $820 million to the victim trust fund.
The deal replaces an earlier agreement that the Boy Scouts struck with Hartford in April.
—Bloomberg News
Lawsuit against Hastert involving hush-money pact is settled
CHICAGO — Days before they were set to go to trial, lawyers in a 2016 hush-money lawsuit against former U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert involving decades-old sexual abuse agreed Wednesday to settle the case.
A Kendall County judge ruled last week that the man who sued Hastert, seeking the unpaid balance of an alleged $3.5 million pact, would be named publicly at the civil trial. Jury selection had been scheduled to begin Monday in a Yorkville courtroom.
Chief Judge Robert Pilmer had allowed the man’s breach-of-contract lawsuit to proceed under the pseudonym James Doe since it was filed in April 2016.
Hastert was a Yorkville High School teacher and state champion wrestling coach before entering politics in the early 1980s. He rose to become the longest-serving Republican House speaker in U.S. history.
The plaintiff in the suit was a former Yorkville standout student-athlete who alleged Hastert sexually abused him one night at an out-of-state wrestling camp in the 1970s. The student was 14 at the time.
—Chicago Tribune
Biden calls Newsom victory a win for Democrats’ COVID policies
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden congratulated California Gov. Gavin Newsom on his victory in the recall election, saying it was a “resounding win” for the policies both Democratic leaders have pushed to control the coronavirus pandemic.
The effort to recall Newsom failed on Tuesday, with nearly 64% of California voters opposing it, according to the latest tally.
“Congratulations to Governor Gavin Newsom on defeating the recall vote,” Biden said in a statement released Wednesday. “This vote is a resounding win for the approach that he and I share to beating the pandemic: strong vaccine requirements, strong steps to reopen schools safely, and strong plans to distribute real medicines — not fake treatments — to help those who get sick.”
The White House held up Newsom’s decisive win in the recall election as evidence that aggressive efforts to curb the spread of COVID-19, which Republicans have criticized as government overreach, are widely backed by much of the public.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said at a briefing on Wednesday that she expected Biden would speak with Newsom later in the day or in the near future.
—McClatchy Washington Bureau
US to share nuclear submarine technology with Australia
WASHINGTON — The United States will arm Australia with nuclear submarine technology as part of a new defense partnership being announced Wednesday, one of many steps President Joe Biden is taking to strengthen alliances as a bulwark against China.
The agreement includes the United Kingdom, and it will also involve closer cooperation on cybersecurity and artificial intelligence.The centerpiece, however, is the decision to make Australia one of a handful of nations to field submarines powered by nuclear reactors.
The agreement — known as AUKUS, an acronym of the three countries’ names — does not give Australia nuclear weapons. But the technology will enable the country’s submarines to travel farther and more quietly, increasing their capabilities in a region where tensions with China are on the rise.
Naval disputes are already common in the South China Sea, which Beijing has claimed as part of its territorial waters, and Taiwan has raised alarms about Chinese aggression toward the island nation. Adding to the combustible mix, North Korea and South Korea conducted ballistic missile tests this week as diplomatic talks involving the two countries remained stalled.
A senior administration official, who requested anonymity to discuss details of the partnership with Australia before the official announcement, said it reflected the White House’s “determination to build stronger partnerships to sustain peace and stability across the Indo-Pacific region.”
The official stressed that “this partnership is not aimed or about any one country,” but the announcement comes against the unmistakable backdrop of Biden’s sweeping efforts to confront China’s expanding economic and military ambitions.
In addition to AUKUS, the president has emphasized regional collaborations such as the Quad, which includes the U.S., Australia, India and Japan. Biden plans to host a summit with those countries’ leaders at the White House next week.
China has bristled at American partnerships that could serve as a counterweight to its influence.
—Los Angeles Times
