The legal fight over David Meehan’s $38 million jury award for abuse at the state’s juvenile jail is with the New Hampshire Supreme Court. Thursday, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments from Meehan’s lawyer, Daniel Deane, and New Hampshire Solicitor General Anthony Galdieri, representing the state. The decision could have significant repercussions for the hundreds of abuse survivors with pending lawsuits.
A jury awarded Meehan, who is the first to take his case to trial, a $38 million verdict last year. Following the verdict, the trial judge slashed the award at the state’s request to $475,000 at the state's request, citing a state law that caps the state's civil liability to that amount per incident.
Now the state Supreme Court must determine what counts as an incident of state liability: Is each of Meehan’s hundreds of rapes a separate incident? Or was it a single security failure that led to those rapes, as the state argues?
With hundreds of similar abuse lawsuits pending against the state, Justice Patrick Donovan asked Solicitor General Anthony Galdieri about the implications of the court's answer.
“Should we consider whether or not this ruling in this particular case is an indication the state's going to be bankrupt by this YDC [Youth Development Center] process?” Justice Donovan asked.
Galdieri said yes.
Meehan’s attorney, David Deane, objected.
“When the state's argument that hundreds of rapes equate to a single incident, such a construction disregards the humanity of the individual victim and could not be what the legislature intended,” Deane said. “It would allow, again, free rapes after the first one.”
Superior Court Judge Andrew Schulman, who oversaw Meehan’s trial, said he ruled in favor of the state’s argument “reluctantly.” He cited the juror’s verdict form, which asked how many incidents Meehan proved against the state. Jurors said one.
At least two jurors told Meehan’s lawyers after the case concluded that their verdict was being misrepresented. One said they were “devastated” after learning Meehan’s award had been reduced to about a half million dollars.
Schulman denied a request by Meehan’s attorneys to reconvene the jury and question them about the verdict form, though he later wrote that the $38 million verdict “cannot be reconciled with the finding of a single incident.”
It’s uncertain when the court will rule.
