CONCORD, N.H. (AP) 鈥� The judge who oversaw a about New Hampshire鈥檚 youth detention center has refused to discard the , saying the facility鈥檚 leadership 鈥渆ither knew and didn鈥檛 care or didn鈥檛 care to learn the truth鈥� about endemic physical and sexual abuse.
A jury earlier this month sided with , who alleged he was repeatedly raped, beaten and held in solitary confinement at the Youth Development Center in the 1990s. The attorney general鈥檚 office is seeking to drastically reduce the award. While remains unsettled, the state also asked Judge Andrew Schulman to nullify the verdict and issue a judgment in its favor.
In a motion filed Monday, attorneys for the state again argued that Meehan waited too long to sue and that he failed to prove that the state鈥檚 negligence led to abuse. Schulman swiftly denied the motion, ruling in less than 24 hours that Meehan鈥檚 claims were timely under an exception to the statute of limitations, and that Meehan had proven 鈥渂eyond doubt鈥� that the state breached its duty of care with respect to staff training, supervision and discipline.
According to Schulman, a jury could easily have found that the facility鈥檚 leadership 鈥渨as, at best, willfully blind to entrenched and endemic customs and practices鈥� that included frequent sexual and physical assaults as well as 鈥渃onstant emotional abuse of residents.鈥�
鈥淢aybe there is more to the story, but based on the trial record liability for negligence and breach of fiduciary duty was proven to a geometric certainty,鈥� he wrote.
Michael Garrity, spokesman for the attorney general's office, said Wednesday that the motion was intended to preserve the arguments the state made at trial for any appeal.
Meehan, 42, went to police in 2017 and three years later. Since then, 11 former state workers and more than of what is now called the Sununu Youth Services Center have filed lawsuits alleging physical, sexual and emotional abuse spanning six decades. Charges against one former worker, Frank Davis, were dropped earlier this month after the 82-year-old was found incompetent to stand trial.
Meehan鈥檚 lawsuit was the first to go to trial. Over four weeks, his attorneys contended that the state encouraged a culture of abuse marked by pervasive , corruption and a The state portrayed Meehan as a , troublemaking teenager and lying to get money.
Jurors awarded him $18 million in compensatory damages and $20 million in enhanced damages, but when asked the number of incidents for which the state was liable, they wrote 鈥渙ne.鈥� That trigged the state's request to reduce the award under a state law that allows claimants against the state to get a maximum of $475,000 per incident.
Meehan鈥檚 lawyers say multiple emails they鈥檝e received from showed the jury misunderstood that question on the jury form. They filed a motion Monday asking Schulman to set aside just the portion of the verdict where jurors wrote 鈥渙ne鈥� incident, allowing the $38 million to stand. As an alternative, the judge could order a new trial only on the number of incidents, or could offer the state the option of agreeing to an increase in the number of incidents, they wrote.
Last week, Schulman denied a request from Meehan鈥檚 lawyers to reconvene and poll the jury, but said he was open to other options to address the disputed verdict. A hearing is scheduled for June 24.
Holly Ramer, The Associated Press
