We (Floodlit.org) just discovered $1,268,835.62 more in Mormon church child sex abuse defense and settlement costs. Did you know Boy Scouts registration fees increased in the 1980s and 1990s to offset rising insurance premiums due in part to sexual abuse claims against the Mormon church?
In 2003, the LDS church’s director of risk management, Paul Rytting, wrote a four-page letter to Mark Dama, claim manager for the Boy Scouts of America.
Floodlit obtained a copy of the letter and is sharing it in full here (see images below).
In the letter, Rytting reminded Dama of “unwritten gentleman’s agreements at the highest levels of BSA and the Church” while requesting that the BSA pay for “at least 50% of the fees and settlement amounts” the church spent to defend and settle three child sex abuse claims.
In all, Rytting said, the Mormon church spent $1,075,000 to settle the claims, plus $193,835.62 to investigate and defend against them.
Calling the results “excellent resolutions,” Rytting cited Oregon’s “incredibly liberal statute of limitations” and counsel evaluation of one of the claims to be “several million dollars.”
Rytting wrote, “Our files reflect that during the 1980s and 1990s, scout registration fees increased in part to help defray the cost of increasing insurance premiums.”
He concluded, “There are ways that we might be able even further to aid one another and collaborate. I would like to pursue discussions to that end. We hope that these matters can be resolved to our mutual satisfaction.”
Floodlit will add these newly discovered abuse settlements to our growing public database about over 4,000 claims of sexual abuse in the Mormon church: https://floodlit.org/settlements
If you know of sexual abuse by a Mormon leader or active church member, or of failure to report abuse in the church, please report it: https://floodlit.org/report-abuse
Here is the letter.
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page 2 of 4
page 3 of 4
page 4 of 4
Did you pay BSA fees in the 1980s or 1990s? What do you think about this letter?
