Rhode Island Boy Scouts Abuse Claims: Narragansett Council and the National Trust

Generally, no — under the Boy Scouts of America's bankruptcy plan, the Narragansett Council itself is released from liability for Scouting-related abuse claims, and those claims are channeled to a national trust instead of Rhode Island state court. According to the Scouting Respondents' 2025 brief to the U.S. Supreme Court, "the Plan released BSA, Settling Insurers, local councils, and chartered organizations from liability for Scouting-related abuse and channeled all such claims to the Trust." On May 13, 2025, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit dismissed the survivors' appeals without reaching their merits, leaving that release in place, and the U.S. Supreme Court denied further review on January 12, 2026 (Lujan Claimants v. Boy Scouts of America, et al., No. 25-490), so the release is now final. "No perpetrator of abuse is released by the Plan," according to the same brief — a person abused by an individual at a Scouting event can still sue that person directly, separate from any claim involving the Council. Being discussed on this page is not a finding that any person or institution did anything wrong.

Three different paths exist, and they lead to different places:

• Suing the person who abused you. The bankruptcy plan does not release individual abusers. Rhode Island's own 2026 law separately extends the civil deadline for childhood sexual abuse claims generally — see our Rhode Island statute of limitations page.
• An "Other Protected Party Claim" with the Trust. This path is for survivors who did not file a timely Proof of Claim with the bankruptcy court by the original November 16, 2020 deadline. The Trust's own FAQ states: "An Other Protected Party Claim is a Direct Abuse Claim that meets the criteria to participate in the Settlement, but for which a timely Proof of Claim was not filed with the Bankruptcy Court. This typically includes Direct Abuse Claims alleging abuse against Local Council or Other Protected Parties which, at the time you submit your Eligibility Form to the Trust, are considered timely under applicable state law and under applicable Bankruptcy Court deadlines." The Trust's claims procedures add that a qualifying claim is one "which is submitted to the Settlement Trust at a time when the Claim would be timely under applicable state law if a state court action were filed against the Local Council on the date on which the Direct Abuse Claim is submitted to the Settlement Trust." Anyone who already filed a timely 2020 Proof of Claim is not eligible for this path.
• A "Future Abuse Claim." This covers abuse that occurred before February 18, 2020, where the survivor was either still under 18 on that date or did not become aware of the claim until later because of repressed memory. As with Other Protected Party claims, the Trust states a deadline for these "has not yet been established."

What this does not mean: it does not mean you can sue the Narragansett Council directly in a Rhode Island court. According to the plan documents cited above, local councils are released from Scouting-related abuse claims, and we found no Rhode Island court decision holding otherwise. The plan also leaves a narrow question open for "Chartered Organizations" — the local sponsoring groups, which in some places included religious institutions — where, according to the Third Circuit, for pre-1976 claims that were not then insured with the Settling Insurers, "the Plan and Confirmation Order neither release those claims nor enjoin their prosecution." We could not confirm whether that applies in practice to any Rhode Island parish or troop sponsor, and this page does not recommend it as a path.