A New Hampshire man has been awarded $38 million in a landmark lawsuit over abuse at the state's youth detention center. The jury awarded $18 million in compensatory damages and $20 million in enhanced damages to the man, who alleged that the state's negligence allowed him to be repeatedly raped, beaten, and held in solitary confinement as a teenager at the Youth Development Center in Manchester.
The state, however, is misinterpreting the verdict by capping the payment at $475,000 per 'incident.' Jurors were not informed of this cap, and when asked how many incidents they found the man had proven, they wrote 'one.' The jury's decision has sparked controversy, with one juror emailing the man's attorney to explain their reasoning.
