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
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