The Boy Scouts of America will face more than 92,700 claims of sexual abuse in a landmark bankruptcy that could reshape the future of one of the nation’s oldest and largest youth organizations, lawyers in the case said Monday as the filing deadline passed.
The number of claims and the total payouts to settle them will easily eclipse those in the sex abuse scandal that engulfed the U.S. Catholic Church more than a decade ago, plaintiffs’ lawyers say.

The Boy Scouts of America will face the last batch of thousands of sex-abuse claims Monday, the deadline for people alleging they were abused as children to come forward in what is shaping up to be the largest bankruptcy case of its kind. More than 80,000 claims were expected to be filed by Monday in bankruptcy court, according to attorneys involved in the case. The Boy Scouts filed for chapter 11 protection from lawsuits accusing the organization of not taking the necessary precautions to protect the children who joined the group.

More than 82,000 people have come forward with sex-abuse claims against the Boy Scouts of America, describing a decades-long accumulation of assaults at the hands of scout leaders across the nation who had been trusted as role models.

The Boy Scouts of America are in the midst of a legal action that could threaten the very existence of the iconic, century-old institution. The Scouts declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy in February after thousands of allegations of child sexual abuse perpetrated by scoutmasters.

The sexual abuse scandal roiling the bankrupt Boy Scouts of America is on track to dwarf a similar scandal that rocked the Catholic Church. Men and boys who were abused as Scouts face a deadline: They must file claims with the court by 2 p.m. Pacific Time on Monday, Nov. 16, to be eligible for redress through a victims’ compensation fund.

Under the supervision of a bankruptcy judge, the Boy Scouts of America has launched a nationwide advertising campaign to notify victims of decades-old sex abuse by Scout leaders that they have until Nov. 16 to seek compensation from a proposed fund.