A judge has ruled the state can move forward with its new process for settling with people sexually and physically abused as children at New Hampshire's former youth detention center, over the objections of victims who say the new process is unfair and a breach of trust.
Survivors sued the state after the Legislature eliminated the independent fact-finder who had decided what to pay them for the abuse they suffered, in favor of letting the governor and Executive Council choose their own administrator. The new rules also allow the New Hampshire Attorney General’s office to reject the administrator's settlement offers.
In a 25-page ruling Merrimack County Superior Court Judge Daniel St. Hilaire acknowledged the last-minute changes had broken survivors’ trust and had caused them trauma. Still, he wrote, the Legislature has the legal authority to change policies, including those regulating its Youth Development Center Settlement Fund.
Attorney David Vicinanzo, whose firm represents over 1,000 abuse survivors, said they will ask St. Hilaire to reconsider. If he declines, they will appeal to the state Supreme Court.
“Ultimately, St. Hilaire found that a government has the power to change its mind and breach its prior promises in a way ordinary citizens do not,” Vicinanzo said in a statement.
The Legislature established the fund with $100 million in 2022 as a way to avoid costly lawsuits from abuse survivors. At the time, Attorney General John Formella also said the state was “committed to doing the right thing.”
When only 92 people submitted claims the first year, Formella persuaded lawmakers to increase payments and expand the qualifications for people eligible for money. Nearly 1,370 people filed claims the next year. The Legislature added $60 million to the fund and contemplated spending $75 million a year going forward until all the claims were paid.
For reasons he has not explained publicly, Formella changed course earlier this year and supported the changes that gave him and the governor more control over the settlement process and payments. Survivors objected and then sued.
The fund’s administrator, former state Supreme Court Justice John Broderick, resigned in protest over the changes.
