New Hampshire settles wrongful death lawsuit from Harmony Montgomery's mom for $2.25 million
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Montgomery ultimately beat the 5-year-old girl to death while they were living in a car with his wife and two other children in December 2019. But he hid her body, and her disappearance went largely unnoticed by authorities for two years, until Sorey grew frantic in late 2021 and came to Manchester to find her missing child.
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Montgomery was
The horrific crime revealed dangerous lapses in child protection services not only in New Hampshire but also in Massachusetts, where the Supreme Judicial Court recently ruled that a recording of the closed-door hearing that led to Montgomery winning custody of his daughter
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Sorey's attorney, C. Kevin Leonard, did not immediately respond Friday to a request for comment about the settlement. A spokesperson for the New Hampshire Department of Justice declined to comment.
Sorey will receive half of the $2.25 million settlement, according to a redacted copy of the agreement the DOJ released Friday to The Boston Globe. The other half will be divided equally to establish trusts for four individuals who are identified in the agreement by their initials only.
The state hasn't admitted to any wrongdoing, and Sorey must cover her own legal fees, according to the agreement.
This lawsuit is at least the third that New Hampshire officials have settled within the past year regarding the deaths of children known to the state's Division of Children, Youth, and Families.
The state reached a $5.75 million settlement in July with Danielle Vaughan over the 2019 death of her 5-year-old son, Dennis Vaughan, and the state reached a $2.25 million settlement in December with
Dennis Vaughan's grandmother, Sherry Connor,
These civil settlements — which were
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Governor Kelly A. Ayotte, a Republican, has said she
Steven Porter can be reached at
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