Arielle Mitropoulos
MANCHESTER, N.H. —
Lawyers representing victims of alleged abuse at New Hampshire’s Youth Development Center say that they will appeal a decision to the state Supreme Court to dismiss a lawsuit, which challenged a new state law that changes how the YDC settlement fund is administered.
A judge this week moved to dismiss the lawsuit, which would allow the law to stay in place.
The law, put into place last spring by the governor and the state legislature, gives the governor the authority to appoint the fund’s administrator, a role previously held by former state Supreme Court Chief Justice John Broderick, an independent attorney. Until a new administrator is named, the claims process for alleged victims remains on hold.
The process has included months of back-and-forth negotiations after Broderick exited his position in July.
“We’re pretty confident that the Supreme Court will say that the state can’t break the agreements it reached with the survivors of child abuse,” said attorney Mark Knights, a partner at Nixon Peabody LLP. “I would ask people who are listening to this, are you proud of the way your state has behaved? I wouldn’t be.”
The lawsuit said previously the New Hampshire Supreme Court held the authority to pick the administrator from candidates proposed by the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office and the claimant’s attorneys, but said now, through the budget that was signed into law, that position would be politically appointed. That person could only be removed for good cause.
The fund was created to give survivors of abuse some form of justice or compensation. For Chuck Miles, who alleges years of abuse in state care, it was an answer to his prayers to be able to close a chapter in his life and move on.
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