Changes to a New Hampshire settlement fund that survivors of abuse say harm them and tamper with the justice process will be allowed to stand.
Merrimack County Judge Daniel St. Hilaire denied a request from survivors suing the state that would’ve temporarily kept Gov. Kelly Ayotte from appointing a new administrator for the settlement fund and the attorney general’s office from exercising its new veto power over settlement amounts.
Critics and survivors of abuse at the state’s former youth detention center had denounced these changes, made last-minute in the state budgeting process, saying they stripped the justice process of its independence and neutrality.
Several people sued to try and stop the changes from going into effect, claiming that the state breached its contract with them and that they’d be disparately impacted.
St. Hilaire wrote in the order that, while he sympathized with survivors and the “breach of trust” that the state committed by ushering in these last-minute changes, they failed to show evidence of “immediate irreparable harm” as a result of the new law. Assertions that a new administrator wouldn’t be independent and that the attorney general’s office would move to veto settlement fund amounts are speculative, St. Hilaire wrote, and did not meet that threshold.
St. Hilaire also concluded that the state Legislature had a “legitimate government interest” in making the changes that it did.
“Ultimately, he found that a government has the power to change its mind and breach its prior promises in a way ordinary citizens do not,” David Vicinanzo and Rus Rilee, the survivors’ attorneys, said in a statement Friday.
Several people suing the state recounted last month the abuse they experienced at the state’s youth detention centers and how they felt when the state changed the rules of the settlement fund.
The group of survivors plans to ask St. Hilaire to reconsider his decision and appeal to the state’s Supreme Court if necessary.
The Department of Justice was “pleased” with the court order, according to a statement from Attorney General John Formella’s office.
“The changes made to the YDC settlement fund by the Legislature rightfully bring this process in line with the way the justice system best operates,” Formella said. “This is the most transparent, qualified, and neutral way of ensuring justice for the victims and the sustainability of the fund in the long term.”