OPINION OF THE COURT
KRAUSE, Circuit Judge.
These appeals arise from the horrific history of sexual abuse in the Boy Scouts of America’s ranks. For decades, that abuse permeated scouting programs, ranging from single instances of harassment to serial offenses of sexual penetration. In recent years, more and more brave victims of this abuse have come forward and filed lawsuits against the Boy Scouts of America and others in the tort system to recover for the harm they suffered, prompting Debtors Boy Scouts of America and Delaware BSA, LLC (collectively BSA or the Debtors) in 2020 to declare bankruptcy and to commence years of negotiations with claimants, insurers, and other interested parties towards a global resolution for the thousands of tort claims against BSA and related entities. That plan (the Plan), confirmed by the Bankruptcy Court more than two years ago, among other things, provides for the creation of a trust (the Settlement Trust), funded by the sale of certain assets and contributions from BSA and other nondebtors, to pay out distributions to abuse claimants. The Plan became effective in April 2023 after the District Court affirmed the Bankruptcy Court’s confirmation order (the Confirmation Order). Four groups of appellants now appeal that decision, seeking varied forms of relief. Two of these groups, the Lujan Claimants and the Dumas & Vaughn (D&V) Claimants, collectively represent 140 abuse victims and ask us to reverse the Confirmation Order and throw out BSA’s Plan in its entirety. That relief is warranted, they argue, because the Plan incorporated so-called “nonconsensual third-party releases”— releasing their claims against nondebtors without their consent—which the Supreme Court held are impermissible under the Bankruptcy Code last term. See Harrington v. Purdue Pharma L.P., 603 U.S. 204 (2024). The other two groups, the Certain Insurers and Allianz Insurers, seek narrower relief. The former asks for the addition of language in the Plan and Confirmation Order to make clear that their rights and defenses under assigned insurance policies are preserved. The latter seeks amendment to the Confirmation Order, in essence, to ensure that they retain the rights they would have had outside of bankruptcy to collect on their defense costs and excess liability claims, though now drawn from the Settlement Trust.
As explained in more detail below, we will decline the Lujan Claimants’ and D&V Claimants’ invitation to reverse the Confirmation Order at this late stage and will dismiss their appeals because the Bankruptcy Code precludes us from reaching the merits of their claims. The narrow relief advanced by the Certain Insurers and Allianz Insurers, however, does not trigger the same statutory bar, so we reach the merits, but with different consequences for these two groups of appellants: The Certain Insurers’ claims fail because the Confirmation Order and Plan already preserve their rights and defenses under their policies, while the Allianz Insurers are entitled to relief because the Confirmation Order impermissibly releases their claims under their policies.
Accordingly, we will dismiss the Lujan Claimants’ and D&V Claimants’ appeals, affirm as to the Certain Insurers’ claims, and reverse as to the Allianz Insurers’ claims.
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT