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HARTFORD — Insurance giant The Hartford announced Tuesday that it had agreed to a payout of $787 million to help settle sexual abuse claims against the bankrupt Boy Scouts of America, superseding a $650 million settlement with the BSA
that was announced in April.
With the new “agreement-in-principle,” The Hartford has expanded on the scope of the previous settlement, which did not include the Boy Scouts’ local councils or representatives of a majority of the claimants.
The claims covered in the settlement between The Hartford and the BSA are related to policies mostly issued in the 1970s, although the company has not specified the number of claims. In exchange for the pre-tax $787 million payment, The Hartford said that the BSA and its local councils would fully release the insurance company from any obligation under policies the company issued to those parties.
In addition, the representatives for the claimants joining the agreement-in-principle would support a BSA plan of reorganization that incorporates the settlement, according to The Hartford.
A message left for the BSA was not immediately returned.
For the current quarter, The Hartford expects to incur a related pre-tax charge against earnings of approximately $137 million. Ranking as the No. 142 company on this year’s Fortune 500 list, The Hartford recorded revenues of more than $20 billion in 2020.
The agreement-in-principle was reached in connection with BSA’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy. It would become a final settlement “upon the occurrence of certain conditions, including execution of a definitive settlement agreement, confirmation of the BSA’s global resolution plan, receipt of executed releases from the local councils and approval from the bankruptcy court as part of BSA’s overall plan of reorganization,” The Harford said in its announcement.
The Hartford and the BSA expect to receive court approval for their agreement in late 2021, according to the company. But The Hartford also said that “no assurance can be given that all the conditions … will be satisfied or that bankruptcy court approval, if obtained, will not be delayed for various procedural reasons.”
Tuesday’s announcement follows a bankruptcy judge’s conditional approval last month of a BSA proposal to enter into an agreement that includes an $850 million fund to compensate tens of thousands of men who allege that they were sexually abused as youngsters by Scout leaders and others.
At the same time, Judge Laura Selber Silverstein denied the BSA’s request under the agreement for permission to withdraw from the April settlement with The Hartford. She said that matter was a separate issue and that the BSA was improperly trying to use the agreement to get out of the earlier deal with the company.
“You can’t just roll up any relief you want and put it in a request to approve an (agreement),” Silverstein said. “The request to determine debtor’s obligations or, conversely, (The) Hartford’s damages, is not appropriate in this context.”
Based in Irving, Texas, the BSA sought bankruptcy protection in February 2020 to try to halt hundreds of individual lawsuits and create a massive compensation fund for men with molestation claims against the company. By last month, the organization was facing more than 82,000 sexual abuse claims.
This article contains reporting from The Associated Press.
pschott@stamfordadvocate.com; twitter: @paulschott
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Read More: The Hartford agrees to pay $787M with conditions for Boy Scouts sexual abuse claims