Lawyers representing people who were abused at the state’s youth detention center sued the state Friday. The lawsuit asks the court to immediately halt a new law change that gives the governor and attorney general more power over a settlement fund for abuse victims.
Currently, the governor has no role in the Youth Development Center Settlement Fund, which the state created three years ago to entice victims to accept a cash payment rather than sue over past abuse. The new state budget that takes effect next week would change that.
It gives the governor and Executive Council the sole authority to choose the administrator of the fund. Under the current system, victims’ attorneys helped choose the administrator, and the appointment was made by the New Hampshire Supreme Court, not the governor.
The budget also gives the New Hampshire attorney general the power to reject proposed settlements. Currently, the attorney general can settle with victims directly, but if the parties can’t reach an agreement, the case goes to the administrator. The victim can reject the administrator’s settlement offer, but the attorney general cannot.
Attorney David Vicinanzo represents hundreds of clients with pending claims and has asked that the lawsuit filed in Merrimack County Superior Court proceed as a class action case. He said the changes give too much power to the governor and attorney general and risk making settlements a political process.
“I think the vast majority of our clients view this as a betrayal of the promises that were made to them,” he said.
Attorney Anthony Carr is also representing victims with pending claims. The firm did not join the lawsuit, but Carr said his firm, Shaheen and Gordon, shares the same concerns and raised them with lawmakers before they passed the budget.
“The Legislature has granted the governor her wish: near unilateral authority to tamper with the fund via complete control over the appointment and removal of the administrator, and giving the (attorney general) veto power to an award,” Carr said in an email. “It is a hideous abuse of governmental authority, and furthers the stain on the State of New Hampshire as it crudely tries to repair its wrongs.”
Vicinanzo has criticized lawmakers throughout the budget process for putting less money in the settlement fund than they had proposed last year. This lawsuit does not include that concern.
When the fund was created, Attorney General John Formella was among its biggest champions. He said the state would save money by settling lawsuits and that the fund was “the right thing” to do.
Since then, he and Gov. Kelly Ayotte, as well as Republican lawmakers, have raised concerns about how the current fund administrator, former Supreme Court justice John Broderick, has managed payments to victims and attorneys. A state audit released in May found no problems. The average settlement has been $500,000.
The lawsuit asks that Broderick remain the fund’s administrator. Vicinanzo and victims have said he and his staff have been sensitive and respectful during settlement talks.
“This (new process) is not trauma informed. This is not victim friendly,” Vicinanzo said. “Our victims already have severe trust issues with the state that abused them as children. And now (these changes are) telling them, reassuring them that they definitely cannot trust the state.
The changes are set to take effect Tuesday. Ayotte and Formella, who are named in the lawsuit, did not return a request for comment.
