Both sides argue for resolution of verdict dispute in New Hampshire youth center abuse case

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) The $38 million verdict in a landmark lawsuit over abuse at New Hampshires youth detention center remains disputed nearly four months later, with both sides submitting final requests to the judge this week...

His allegations of horrific sexual and physical abuse at the Youth Development Center in 1990s led to a broad criminal investigation resulting in multiple arrests, and his lawsuit seeking to hold the state accountable was the first of more than 1,100 to go to trial...

The jury wasnt told that state law caps claims against the state at $475,000 per incident, and some jurors later said they wrote one on the verdict form to reflect a single case of post-traumatic stress disorder resulting from more than 100 episodes of physical, sexual and emotional abuse...

Meehans lawyers, however, have asked Schulman to set aside just the portion of the verdict in which jurors wrote one incident, allowing the $38 million to stand, or to order a new trial focused only on determining the number of incidents...

Forcing a man who the jury has concluded was severely harmed due to the states wanton, malicious, or oppressive conduct to choose between reliving his nightmare, again, in a new and very public trial, or accepting 1/80th of the jurys intended award, is a grave injustice that cannot be tolerated in a court of law, wrote attorneys Rus Rilee and David Vicinanzo...

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