YDC victim settlement requests total nearly $1.5 billion
John T. Broderick, a retired, Supreme Court chief justice, is administrator of the settlement fund the Legislature created to decide how much alleged victims of sexual and/or physical abuse should receive for what happened while they were at the Youth Development Center in Manchester and its successor facility, the Sununu Youth Services Center.
The 1,135 people who have filed claims for settlement from the Youth Development Center victims fund have requested just under $1.5 billion — for an average $1.3 million in damages for sexual and/or physical abuse by staff at the facility, according to the latest quarterly report from the fund's administrator.
The 296 cases settled to date through either the YDC settlement fund or the Attorney General's Office amount to $156 million, for an average award of $527,027.
The Legislative Fiscal Committee will formally receive the report from fund administrator John Broderick on Friday and may get to see preliminary results of a review of the fund from Legislative Budget Assistant Michael Kane's audit division.
At the urging of Senate President Sharon Carson, R-Londonderry, the fiscal committee last month requested the audit after members concluded they lacked enough specific information, particularly how claimants' lawyers were being paid and the extent to which potential victims took out loans at extremely high interest rates to get their cases to this point.
Kane said his team will wrap up the expedited audit in time for House and Senate budget writers to consider as they decide how much money they will earmark to replenish the fund for the next two years.
Broderick, a former chief justice of the state Supreme Court, had asked for $15 million for the remainder of the budget year that ends June 30; the fiscal panel and Executive Council gave him $5 million and have put the other $10 million on hold pending the audit.
Broderick has asked for $150 million for 2026-27, which is the maximum under a 2024 law that placed an annual $75 million cap on spending.
The House-approved state budget proposal set aside only $10 million each year, which Broderick said would not meet the $26 million due in awards over that two-year period that Formella and he have already approved.
Since its inception, the Legislature has allotted $165 million to the fund.
June 30 is the deadline for claimants to file an initial application to remain eligible for a potential settlement.
In the report, Broderick said the overwhelming number of claimants are represented by the Manchester firm of Nixon and Peabody along with Rus Rilee, who has often been co-counsel. The number of total claims will rise over the next six weeks as a final batch of their clients 'stay' their lawsuits in court and file to seek a settlement, he said.
To receive a settlement, claimants must agree not to sue the state in court.
About 10% of requested claims involve physical abuse, another 10% allege sexual abuse, and the other 80% of alleged victims said they suffered both.
The actionable amount of total award requests was $1.33 billion, Broderick said, once you applied 'statutory maximums' under the law that these alleged victims could receive.
Administrator: Alleged victims of YDC abuse have sought nearly $1.5 billion.
The Legislative Fiscal Committee has asked for an audit of the settlement fund it set up to decide what alleged victims at the Youth Development Center in Manchester (pictured) should receive in damages for sexual and/or physical abuse.
Other business
At Friday's monthly meeting, the Legislative Fiscal Committee will also act on Gov. Kelly Ayotte's request to spend a remaining $270,000 balance that had been in a $10 million School Infrastructure Fund that former Gov. Chris Sununu created with federal money.
Ayotte said the money must be committed by the end of the federal budget year Sept. 30 or it goes back to the treasury.
Seven of the eight schools to receive the final money are in Nashua with Gilford High School becoming the eighth.
Also, Business and Economic Affairs Commissioner Taylor Caswell is asking for permission to accept a $12 million federal grant to expand broadband access, part of a $196 million allocation to New Hampshire under the federal Infrastructure Act of 2021.
klandrigan@unionleader.com
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Hill
5 minutes ago
- The Hill
Democrats press DHS for ‘Alligator Alcatraz' information
Democratic lawmakers are pressing the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for more information about how the Trump administration teamed up with the state of Florida to create a controversial detention facility for migrants in the middle of the Everglades. 'Brushing aside concerns from human rights watchdogs, environmentalist groups, and Tribal nations, [DHS] has greenlit the construction of this expansive detention facility that may violate detained individuals' human rights, jeopardize public and environmental health and violate federal law,' House and Senate Democrats wrote in a letter to DHS Secretary Kristi Noem dated Wednesday. The detention facility, dubbed 'Alligator Alcatraz,' opened in early July to house arrested migrants awaiting deportation. It was created through a state and federal partnership, with Florida officials leading oversight and construction, with DHS footing the bill. President Trump toured the facility when it opened, along with Noem. A federal judge last week temporarily halted expansion of the site after tribal and environmental groups filed a lawsuit over potential damage to wetlands. Located just south of Miami, Alligator Alcatraz quickly raised alarms about conditions for detainees in the hot, humid climate. Some whistleblowers have described worm-infested food, plumbing problems and other issues since its opening. 'The Everglades site was selected precisely because of its remote location and harsh surroundings, which Florida officials reportedly view as 'an ideal location to house and transport migrants,'' the Democrats wrote in their letter Wednesday. 'We ask that DHS promptly provide critical information for the American public to better understand this detention plan.' The letter was signed by more than five dozen members of Congress, led by Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.). It requested that DHS respond to several questions by September 3.
Boston Globe
5 minutes ago
- Boston Globe
Obama applauds Newsom's California redistricting plan as Texas GOP pushes new maps
Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up According to organizers, the event raised $2 million for the National Democratic Redistricting Committee and its affiliates, one of which has filed and supported litigation in several states over GOP-drawn districts. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Eric Holder, who served as Obama's attorney general and heads up the group, also appeared. Advertisement The former president's comments come as Texas lawmakers return to Austin this week, renewing a heated debate over a new congressional map creating five new potential GOP seats. The plan is the result of prodding by President Donald Trump, eager to stave off a midterm defeat that would deprive his party of control of the House of Representatives. Texas Democratic lawmakers delayed a vote for 15 days by leaving the state in protest, depriving the House of enough members to do business. Advertisement Spurred on by the Texas situation, Democratic governors including Newsom have pondered ways to possibly strengthen their party's position by way of redrawing U.S. House district lines, five years out from the Census count that typically leads into such procedures. In California — where voters in 2010 gave the power to draw congressional maps to an independent commission, with the goal of making the process less partisan — Democrats have unveiled a proposal that could give that state's dominant political party an additional five U.S. House seats in a bid to win the fight to control of Congress next year. If approved by voters in November, the blueprint could nearly erase Republican House members in the nation's most populous state, with Democrats intending to win the party 48 of its 52 U.S. House seats, up from 43. A hearing over that measure devolved into a shouting match Tuesday as a Republican lawmaker clashed with Democrats, and a committee voted along party lines to advance the new congressional map. California Democrats do not need any Republican votes to move ahead, and legislators are expected to approve a proposed congressional map and declare a Nov. 4 special election by Thursday to get required voter approval. Newsom and Democratic leaders say they'll ask voters to approve their new maps only for the next few elections, returning map-drawing power to the commission following the 2030 census — and only if a Republican state moves forward with new maps. Obama applauded that temporary timeline. Advertisement 'And we're going to do it in a temporary basis because we're keeping our eye on where we want to be long term,' Obama said, referencing Newsom's take on the California plan. 'I think that approach is a smart, measured approach, designed to address a very particular problem in a very particular moment in time.'
Newsweek
6 minutes ago
- Newsweek
Amy Coney Barrett Offers Some Advice to Judges
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. U.S. Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett offered advice to judges and others in the legal community during an address at the Seventh Circuit Judicial Conference on Monday night. Newsweek reached out to the Supreme Court's public information office for comment via email. Why It Matters Barrett has emerged as a swing vote on the nation's highest court. Although she was appointed by President Donald Trump, she has at times shown a willingness to break from the court's conservative majority. Americans' confidence in the judiciary has fallen in recent years, according to Gallup, which in December 2024 found that only 35 percent of Americans have confidence in the judicial system and courts. The pollster's latest survey on Supreme Court approval yielded similar skepticism from Americans, with only 39 percent approving of the High Court. U.S. Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett in Washington on October 21, 2020. U.S. Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett in Washington on October 21, 2020. Sarah Silbiger-Pool/Getty Images What To Know Barrett addressed hundreds of judges and other legal professionals during a brief address at the conference in Chicago. She urged courts to maintain a sense of "camaraderie and professionalism," Fox News reported. She acknowledged that there are disagreements in the legal field, Bloomberg reported. "Law is a profession that, unlike some others, operates continually under the strain of disagreement," she said, according to Bloomberg. "Doctors cooperate and coordinate to deal with patients. Engineers work together to build a bridge. But litigants and their lawyers are pitted against one another on opposite sides." While this may sound "bleak," it allows attorneys too learn how to argue "without letting it consume relationships," she said. "I'm grateful to the way our bar conducts itself in that regard, because that is what enables the judicial system to work well, that collegiality," she said. During the most recent Supreme Court term, Barrett sided with liberal justices on some issues, including a key deportation case in which she opposed the Trump administration's use of wartime legislation to deport civilians, or a case in which she rejected efforts to freeze foreign aid funding. She has also given the Trump administration wins, including in her ruling on a major birthright citizenship case. What People Are Saying Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, in May, per NBC News: "In our judiciary is a co-equal branch of government, separate from the others, with the authority to interpret the Constitution as law and strike down, obviously, acts of Congress or acts of the president. And that innovation doesn't work judiciary is not independent. Its job is to, obviously, decide cases but, in the course of that, check the excesses of Congress or the executive, and that does require a degree of independence." Gallup, in December 2024: "Few countries and territories have seen larger percentage-point drops in confidence in the judiciary [over a similar four-year span] than the U.S. These include Myanmar [from 2018 to 2022] overlapping the return to military rule in 2021, Venezuela [2012-2016] amid deep economic and political turmoil, and Syria [2009-2013] in the runup to and early years of civil war, and others that have experienced their own kinds of disorder in the past two decades." What Happens Next Supreme Court terms begin on the first Monday of October. This year, it's October 6.
