New Hampshire lawmakers said Friday the state can’t afford a $55 million request to resume settlements with almost 1,700 people abused at the state-run youth detention center. Instead, lawmakers gave the new head of the settlement fund $20 million and held out the possibility of more money if state revenues improve.
Retired circuit court judge Gerard Boyle, who took over administration of the fund in May, told lawmakers he understood the state’s financial limits but would need the remaining $35 million before the fall to continue settlements with victims over the next year.
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Lawmakers created the fund in 2022 with $100 million to encourage victims to settle with the state rather than sue, in order to spare victims the trauma of a trial and the state the unpredictability of jury awards. Two years later, they expanded the kinds of abuse eligible for payments and increased payment caps.
The average payment has been between about $500,000 and $600,000, depending on the nature of the abuse. Boyle told the Joint Legislative Fiscal Committee Friday that settling the remaining 1,700 claims could ultimately cost the state $1 billion.
Rep. Peter Leishman, a Peterborough Democrat, said he was concerned the fund could “bankrupt the state.”
“All of us are sickened by what happened at the Youth Development Center,” he told Boyle, referring to the prior name for the Sununu Youth Services Center, located in Manchester. “But I also am concerned about the state's financial health going forward and that this is kind of like a runaway train as far as expense.”
Boyle said the financial risk could be greater if victims took their cases to court and won.
A jury awarded one victim $38 million in 2024, though that amount is under appeal. The state resolved a lawsuit with a second victim, who opted out of the settlement fund, with a $10 million payment last year, Boyle said
“The alternative is very, very scary,” Boyle said. “If these cases go to the superior court and a jury of our peers decides that each one of these cases isn't worth $600,000 or $1 million but that each one of them is worth $38 million or $50 million, that will bankrupt the state, certainly.”
