CONCORD, N.H. — New Hampshire is looking at more than 1,530 pending abuse claims totaling $1.8 billion, according to the final quarterly report from outgoing YDC Fund Claims Administrator John Broderick that was released Thursday.
And while the settlements would likely be much less than the $1.8 billion victims are seeking, it shows what the state is dealing with going forward just as changes in the law forced Broderick out, although he is staying on until the end of the month to finish his work.
The cases stem from years of abuse of inmates at the state’s juvenile detention facility, the Youth Development Center.
Broderick, who is clear that he hasn’t resigned but was forced out by the new law, said he recently reviewed a YDC case where a boy was anally raped 10 times and orally raped five times who would receive a $1.5 million award through the fund. A jury would likely award such a victim a dollar figure many times that amount, he said, using the recently adjudicated David Meehan case as an example. The jury awarded Meehan $38 million.
Legislators created the settlement fund in 2022 to try and keep as many cases out of court as possible.
“The state is playing with fire,” Broderick said.
The new law calls for the governor to appoint the fund administrator and for the attorney general to have final say over any settlement.
“The attorney general. They’re the casino and want to control every bet. They are going to save money not because the system is going to be fair, but because it’s not going to be fair,” Broderick said. “It is so wrong.”
Broderick wrote in his quarterly letter that he takes pride in the job he did settling cases of people who were horrifically abused as children while in state care.
“Sitting in confidential settings listening to the personal stories from ‘long ago kids’ who were abused in state detention for more than 50 years, as I have done weekly these last two years, and being able to apply the state law and guidelines to make awards, was a privilege and responsibility unlike any I have ever had. I will always be as grateful for that opportunity as I am saddened to leave it. But I am proud of the work we did,” Broderick wrote.
Since the fund started accepting claims, it has settled a total of 386 victim claims for more than $210 million without interest, or more than $221 million with interest. Some claimants have agreed to be paid over a period of years, necessitating interest. The settlements range from $3,000 on the low end, to $1.5 million. The average settlement amount if $545,000 per victim, with a few settled above $1.5 million for egregious sexual abuse.
In contrast, Attorney General John Formella’s Office, which had been critical of Broderick’s work, has settled two claims for $14.5 million outside the fund. A third claim, that of survivor David Meehan, resulted in a jury award of $38 million. The Attorney General’s Office is currently trying to get that claim reduced to $475,000.
The fund received a total 1,966 claims through the end of the fourth quarter. The remaining 1,530 claims, valued at the maximum settlement amount, would cost New Hampshire taxpayers more than $1.8 billion.
It’s not likely every one of the 1,530 claims will get the maximum amount. If the $545,000 average holds, however, the total would be more than $830 million on top of the $221 million already agreed to by the state and the victims.
Broderick sent his 10th and last quarterly report to Gov. Kelly Ayotte, Senate President Sharon Carson (R-Londonderry,) House Speaker Sherman Packard (R-Londonderry) and House Ways and Means Chair Rep. Ken Weyler (R-Kingston) on Thursday, days after his contested departure.
Ayotte and her allies in the legislature pushed to change the YDC Fund law this last term, succeeding in removing independent authority from the administrator’s position. The change in law has already sparked a new lawsuit from survivors who say they’ve been duped by the state.
When Ayotte announced Tuesday that Broderick resigned his position after being named the first fund administrator in October of 2022, the former New Hampshire Supreme Court Chief Justice told InDepthNH.org that was not the case.
“I didn’t resign. They took my job away. I can’t resign from a job I don’t have,” Broderick said.
Under the new law, Ayotte has the power to appoint the fund administrator and the attorney general has final say over any settlement payments for the victims.
“In what world does the defendant get to go in before the trial and say, ‘I would like to pick the judge. I can replace the judge. We can overrule the jury.’ We would laugh at that. It would be funny except we are not talking about children who were sent to bed without TV. They were sexually and physically abused and this went on 50 years,” Broderick said.
David Vicinanzo, the Nixon Peabody lawyer acting as the lead attorney for the majority of the victims, criticized the way Broderick was pushed out.
“Judge Broderick’s resignation emphasizes the great injustice being done to the child abuse survivors who relied on the state’s promises when they submitted claims to the Settlement Fund,” Vicinanzo said. “We haven’t always seen eye to eye with Judge Broderick and have disagreed with some of his decisions, but he has always been a fair and impartial decision maker.”
Many adults who had been incarcerated as children at the Youth Development Center in Manchester, which is now called the Sununu Youth Services Center in Manchester, started seeking justice from the state in 2017. Since the scandal broke, the state has managed to prosecute a handful of then-state employees who were alleged abusers, compared to hundreds named in the civil lawsuits.
Reporter Nancy West contributed to this report. This article first appeared on InDepthNH.org and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.