New Hampshire Supreme Court justices heard oral arguments Thursday about the disputed verdict in a landmark lawsuit over abuse at the state’s youth detention center, questioning whether their decision could bankrupt the state or essentially let it off the hook.
Jurors last year awarded $38 million to David Meehan, who alleged that the state’s negligence allowed him to be repeatedly raped and beaten as a teenager at the Youth Development Center in Manchester. But the state is seeking to reduce the award under a sovereign immunity law that caps individual payouts at $475,000 per “incident.”
