Jury awards $38 million to YDC abuse victim
May 3—A jury Friday awarded $38 million to David Meehan, a former resident of the Youth Development Center who alleged he was physically and sexually abused during the 1990s.
"The $38 million verdict is the largest verdict in a contested personal injury case in the history of New Hampshire," said a statement from Meehan's attorneys, Rus Rilee of Rilee & Associates and David Vicinanzo of Nixon Peabody LLP.
The New Hampshire Department of Justice, however, said state law will limit the state's payout to $475,000 for Meehan.
"The jury awarded $38 million in damages but found that Mr. Meehan had proven that only one incident had occurred," the statement said. "State law... provides that any claimant who brings a lawsuit against the state may only recover up to $475,000 per incident. Therefore, today's jury verdict will result in an award of $475,000 for Mr. Meehan."
Meehan's lawsuit has sparked more than 1,000 similar lawsuits by former residents of the juvenile detention center. This is the first of the cases to go to trial, Vicinanzo said.
In a phone interview, Vicinanzo said it was "ridiculous" to contend hundreds of instances of abuse would equal one incident.
"Today, the jury basically gave the state a cold hard slap in the face and said 'do better,'" he said. "Instead of responding 'We were wrong and we'll fix it and do much better in the future,' they immediately started quibbling with the money part instead of taking full responsibility for the child abuse that they allowed to happen for so long.
"What does it say about our government officials?"
Such cases often lead to talks between the parties, who ultimately may reach a settlement amount that is less than the initial verdict, he said.
Outside Rockingham County Superior Court in Brentwood, Meehan hugged his victim's advocate, got into a red pickup truck and lit a cigarette.
"David Meehan is a hero in New Hampshire history for having the courage to tell the truth about the state's grotesque abuse of him as a child," his attorneys said in a statement. "He spoke truth to power, and the jury sent a powerful message validating his harm and condemning the state's wanton, malicious, and oppressive conduct."
The verdict wasn't read in open court.
According to Meehan's attorneys, the jury awarded $18 million in compensatory damages, to compensate Meehan for his pain and suffering and loss of enjoyment of life.
The jurors also awarded $20 million in enhanced compensatory damages "because the state engaged in 'wanton, malicious, and oppressive conduct' by abusing its power in permitting the sexual assaults, excessive solitary confinement, and physical abuse," the statement said.
The court's jury verdict form confirmed the dollar figures.
Last month, Meehan testified about how he spent weeks in solitary confinement, and how he was raped and contracted gonorrhea. He had difficulty speaking at times and called the testimony one of the hardest things he has done in his life.
"I just want to see the happy times now," Meehan said. "That is what sucks about this process is I am still trapped in all of it."
Vicinanzo said Meehan was raped, beaten hundreds of times and held in solitary confinement for long periods of time between 1997 and 1998.
The cost of his treatments and lost employment could amount to upward of $200 million — $1 million for each rape, Vicinanzo said.
Attorneys for the state argued that the 2020 lawsuit was after the three-year statute of limitations had lapsed.
The Union Leader's David Lane contributed to this report.
