Barbara M.G. Lynn, the recently retired former chief judge for the Northern District of Texas, has been appointed as mediator in an insurance dispute involving the Boy Scouts of America that the presiding judge in the matter called “the mother of all coverage cases.”
“I hope you will give her every bit of cooperation possible,” U.S. District Judge Karen Gren Scholer said of Judge Lynn Thursday during a status conference on the massive litigation.
“She has complete authority. I trust her judgment completely,” Judge Scholer said, adding, “This is not your regular mediator.”
Lynn served in the Northern District for more than 25 years before retiring this year. She has since joined Lynn Pinker Hurst & Schwegmann, the litigation firm founded by her husband, Mike Lynn.
The lawsuit was brought by the trustee of the Boy Scouts’ $2.4 billion bankruptcy settlement against scores of insurance companies over who is potentially liable for more than 82,000 claims of sexual or other abuse in the Boy Scouts program. The status conference in Judge Scholer’s downtown Dallas courtroom was packed wall to wall — almost exclusively with lawyers involved in the case.
The Boy Scouts of America filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in February 2020. Negotiations between the organization, its creditors and insurers ensued, and a bankruptcy reorganization plan was approved in September 2022 and affirmed in March 2023.
The current lawsuit before Judge Scholer was filed in 2023 by Barbara J. Houser, the retired former chief bankruptcy judge for the Northern District of Texas, who is trustee for the settlement, against a long list of insurance companies opposed to the settlement. (The list of attorneys for the defendant insurance companies fills more than 50 pages in the online docket for the case — though there are many duplications.) Four groups of insurance companies have already agreed to pay a combined $1.6 billion to resolve liabilities.
Judge Houser, as plaintiff, is represented by, among others, Jeff Tillotson of Tillotson, Johnson & Patton.
The suit, which has essentially languished since its filing, seeks a court declaration that by standing in opposition to the plan insurers have violated their contracts with the Boy Scouts.
“In order to effectuate the trust’s purposes, fulfill the trust’s obligations under the plan, and obtain clarity and finality regarding the defendants’ coverage obligations,” the 31-page complaint said, “the trustee seeks a declaration that defendants have breached or will breach the insurance policies by refusing to provide coverage under the insurance policies for the abuse claims.”
In Thursday’s status conference, Judge Scholer instructed Houser’s lawyers to file an amended complaint by Sept. 11 to bring the claim up to date. In doing so, she declared moot several pending motions to dismiss the current complaint. Once the amended complaint is filed, defendants will have 21 days to answer or otherwise respond to it.
“I want to get this case going,” Judge Scholer said, adding, “This is going to take up a lot of this court’s time.” She noted that with the announcements this month by U.S. District Judges David Godbey and Jane Boyle that they’re taking senior status, the dockets of the other federal judges in the Northern District are likely to be exceptionally crowded.
Despite her clearly stated desire to move the case forward — and despite Lynn’s mediation — Judge Scholer acknowledged that a trial in the Boy Scouts suit, if it comes to that, is at least 18 months off, if not longer.
The case number is 3:23-cv-01592.