Written by Damian Fisher, InDepthNH.org
The bill for decades of physical and sexual abuse in New Hampshire’s juvenile detention system continues to mount.
The state has paid out $102 million on 206 claims to date, and 448 more claims are currently pending, according to the latest quarterly report from the New Hampshire Youth Development Center Claims Management and Settlement Fund. . The estimated payout for currently pending claims is as much as $469 million.
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Fund administrator John Broderick said the June 2025 deadline for claims to be submitted under the new fund management system is approaching, and hundreds more could potentially be filed. said.
“If things proceed as expected, hundreds of additional claims currently pending in Superior Court will be filed with us by the June 2025 deadline,” Broderick wrote. .
The foundation did not process many claims for three months this summer, from June to August, as officials worked to develop a new electronic claims management system that would allow survivors to submit claims online. The new system also takes into account expanded legal definitions of the types of abuse that are eligible for compensation, as well as higher compensation amounts in cases of severe sexual abuse.
“We’re now fully back up and running. In September, we issued about 30 decisions,” Broderick said.
Expanding the categories of compensable abuse and setting higher damages are efforts to wean survivors from civil litigation, which can be more than costly for states.
More than 1,000 adult survivors of YDC’s systematic abuse have filed civil lawsuits in state court, with some potentially receiving millions of dollars in claims. A jury in David Meehan’s first civil suit awarded him $38 million, an amount the state disputes.
But even if the survivors were able to win an award worth a fraction of Mr. Meehan’s, New Hampshire could be in serious financial trouble. None of the claims are covered by insurance, leaving New Hampshire taxpayers to foot the bill for decades of abuse of children imprisoned by the state.
The settlement fund was created by Congress to pay $100 million to survivors. It was clear early on that this amount would not be enough to pay all claims and still keep survivors out of court.
After changes to the Settlement Fund Act, Broderick can now pay higher amounts to each survivor, capped at $75 million a year. He can also pay survivors over time rather than in a lump sum.
Survivors receive an average of $500,000 to $1.5 million per settlement from the fund, depending on the type of childhood abuse they suffered.
