The Boy Scouts of America sexual abuse settlement cleared its last major legal hurdle on January 12, 2026, when the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear a final challenge from 75 survivors known as the Lujan Claimants.1U.S. Supreme Court. Lujan Claimants v. Boy Scouts of America, No. 25-490 That denial released about $1.65 billion in insurance money that had been sitting in escrow during the appeals and let the Scouting Settlement Trust start a second round of payments to abuse survivors. Money is flowing, but slowly, and survivors are receiving only a small fraction of their allowed claim values while a fight over how much to reserve for future claims plays out in front of the bankruptcy court in Delaware.
Where Payments Stand Now
As of late November 2025, the trust had disbursed more than $295.5 million to 36,896 survivors across all claims tracks.2Scouting Settlement Trust. Scouting Settlement Trust By May 2026, according to one tracker, more than $316 million had reached over 39,170 survivors, and over 50,800 of the roughly 58,000 matrix claims had been determined.
Survivors are being paid in stages rather than a lump sum. During the appeals, initial distributions were about 1.5 percent of a claim’s allowed amount. Supplemental distributions began on March 3, 2026, adding another 3.2 percent. Survivors who had not yet received an initial payment became eligible for a combined 4.7 percent.2Scouting Settlement Trust. Scouting Settlement Trust For a claim valued at $600,000, that works out to roughly $28,200 before attorney fees, which typically run 33 to 40 percent of the settlement.
Whether more distributions follow depends on a dispute the bankruptcy court has yet to resolve. More on that below.
What the Supreme Court and Third Circuit Actually Did
Objecting survivors and non-settling insurers had appealed the plan’s confirmation, arguing that the Supreme Court’s June 2024 decision in Harrington v. Purdue Pharma L.P. — which struck down releases shielding the Sackler family from opioid lawsuits — should invalidate the BSA plan’s similar “non-consensual third-party releases” of local councils, chartered organizations, and settling insurers.3Courthouse News Service. Third Circuit Rejects Sex Abuse Victims Appeal of Boy Scouts Bankruptcy Deal
On May 13, 2025, the Third Circuit agreed the BSA releases would be “unconfirmable” if proposed today under Purdue, but held it was too late to unwind the deal because no stay had been obtained during the appeal and the insurance buyback was protected as a good-faith asset sale.4U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. In Re Boy Scouts of America and Delaware BSA LLC The court reversed one narrow piece of the plan involving the Allianz group of insurers and sent it back for a fix, but said the change would not disturb the trust funding or claw back distributions already made.5Jones Day. Third Circuit Largely Upholds Order Confirming Boy Scouts Chapter 11 Plan
The Supreme Court denied the Lujan Claimants’ petition without comment. No rehearing petition was filed by the February 6, 2026, deadline, which made the confirmation order final and released the escrowed insurance funds.6Scouting Settlement Trust. News and Key Links The practical effect: survivors who accept trust compensation cannot separately sue local councils, sponsoring churches and civic groups, or the settling insurers. Individual perpetrators of abuse are not protected by these releases.7U.S. Supreme Court. BSA Opposition to Stay Application
How Much a Claim Is Worth
The Scouting Settlement Trust evaluates claims through three tracks. All filing deadlines have passed.
Matrix Claims
Most claims — 58,082 — went through the matrix, which assigns each case to one of six tiers based on the nature of the alleged abuse. Base compensation runs from $3,500 at Tier 6 (non-contact abuse) to $600,000 at Tier 1 (the most severe forms of penetrative abuse by an adult). Aggravating factors such as extended duration, multiple perpetrators, or evidence a sponsoring organization knew of the risk can multiply the base by up to 4.5 times, pushing a Tier 1 claim as high as $2.7 million. Mitigating factors, including statute-of-limitations issues, can reduce the value.8Scouting Settlement Trust. How Does the Trust Calculate the Aggravating Factors By March 2026, the trust had issued determinations on 57,612 claims.2Scouting Settlement Trust. Scouting Settlement Trust
Expedited Distribution
About 6,027 survivors chose a streamlined $3,500 “quick pay” that skipped detailed questionnaires and individual merit review. As of November 2025, 5,293 of those had been paid, with the rest waiting on signed releases or lien resolution.2Scouting Settlement Trust. Scouting Settlement Trust
Independent Review Option
Survivors who disagreed with their matrix determination could take their claim to a retired judge for an evidentiary hearing. The neutral’s recommendation is meant to approximate what a reasonable jury might award, and the trustee then reviews it for reasonableness.2Scouting Settlement Trust. Scouting Settlement Trust
Why You Aren’t Getting the Full Amount
The 4.7 percent distribution figure has become the sorest point for survivors and their attorneys. Several factors are keeping payments low.
The Future Abuse Claims dispute. Additional distributions beyond the current 4.7 percent depend largely on how much the trust must reserve for “Future Abuse Claims” — claims by people who were abused before the bankruptcy filing but were too young to file during the 2020 claims window. The trust and its advisory committee estimate the number of such claims will be substantially lower than the Future Claims Representative projects. Judge Laurie Selber Silverstein is expected to resolve the disagreement. If the higher estimate prevails, the reserved money may be enough only to cover those future obligations, leaving little for further payments to current claimants. If the lower estimate wins, additional distributions could follow.2Scouting Settlement Trust. Scouting Settlement Trust
Healthcare liens. Before receiving supplemental payments, claimants must decide how to handle possible government healthcare liens — either through the trust’s lien resolution administrator (which holds back a 1.7 percent reserve) or by resolving liens on their own.2Scouting Settlement Trust. Scouting Settlement Trust
Fraud review. The trust has disclosed that it is investigating a “substantial number of claims” for possible fraud, which has held up some determinations. It also noted a drop in the quality of information submitted near the filing deadline, forcing more follow-up requests as it works through the remaining claims first-in, first-out.2Scouting Settlement Trust. Scouting Settlement Trust
Attorney fees. Contingency fees typically run 33 to 40 percent of what a survivor receives, cutting further into the payment.
Some attorneys had warned the plan would produce exactly this outcome. Pfau Cochran Vertetis Amala, which represents claimants, called earlier proposed figures “grossly unfair” and argued at one stage that an $850 million offer worked out to roughly $10,000 per survivor.9PCVA. Boy Scouts Proposed Settlement for Sexual Abuse Survivors Falls Short, Lacks Transparency The BSA responded through the litigation that the settling insurers refused to contribute without the third-party releases and that the $1.65 billion recovery would not have existed without them.10U.S. Supreme Court. Brief for the Scouting Respondents in Opposition, Lujan Claimants v. Boy Scouts of America
The Slater Slater Schulman Investigation
If you are one of the more than 14,000 survivors represented by Slater Slater Schulman LLP, your claim is on a different track.11Slater Slater Schulman. Over 14K BSA Cases Filed by Slater Slater Schulman In June 2024, the trust notified the firm of “irregularities” in its claim submissions and paused processing of the firm’s undetermined matrix claims. The firm acknowledged problems in some filings, and the parties hired an independent neutral at the firm’s expense to vet the claims before they proceed.12U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. Notice of Issues With Trust Claim Submissions by Slater Slater Schulman LLP In October 2025, a group of the firm’s own clients filed a motion seeking to terminate their fee agreements and reduce the fees paid to the firm.13Law360. Boy Scouts Claimants Look to Remove Slater Citing Probe
What’s Left of the Case
On March 13, 2026, the bankruptcy court entered a final decree closing the main BSA bankruptcy case (No. 20-10343).14Omni Agent Solutions. BSA Bankruptcy Case Information The related case for Delaware BSA, LLC (No. 20-10342) remains open and now handles all ongoing trust administration: claims disputes, distribution decisions, attorney fee litigation, and appeals.15U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. Final Decree, Case No. 20-10343
The organization itself, renamed Scouting America on its 115th anniversary in February 2025, continues to operate. Membership stands at just over one million youth, including more than 176,000 girls and young women, down from nearly five million at the organization’s 1972 peak.16The Guardian. Boy Scouts Name Change to Scouting America Local councils remain independently incorporated and financially separate from the national entity.17Laurel Highlands Council. BSA National Financial Reorganization For survivors, the courtroom fight over whether the deal itself would stand is over. What remains is the accounting: how much each person’s claim is finally worth, and how much of it reaches them.