MANCHESTER, NH – Gerard Boyle, a retired Concord Circuit Court judge, is the attorney general’s nominee for administrator of the YDC Settlement Fund to determine the outcome of abuse claims filed by people detained at the state’s former juvenile detention center decades ago.
Attorney General John Formella sent a letter last week to Gov. Kelly Ayotte nominating Boyle to be the fund administrator. The fund was set up in 2022 to compensate victims of alleged physical, sexual and/or mental abuse by counselors at the former Youth Development Center, the state-operated juvenile detention facility in Manchester.
“As a trial judge for 21 years, Judge Boyle has had to fairly adjudicate thousands of cases involving difficult circumstances in both the District and Family divisions,” Formella wrote.
Formella said Boyle presided over the Merrimack County Teen Court for 13 years, working with families of teenagers who were first-time offenders.
Boyle, who resides in Campton, also is involved in Scouting America, formerly known as Boy Scouts of America.
The fund administrator position was previously held by former Supreme Court justice John Broderick, who vacated it last July.
According to Mark Knights, Nixon Peabody partner and counsel for thousands of alleged victims, if confirmed by the Executive Council, Boyle will determine whether hundreds of “long-pending abuse claims finally move forward.”
For survivors who entered the fund in reliance on the state’s promise of a fair and independent process, this appointment carries enormous consequences, Knights said.
“Last summer, the governor and legislature gutted the YDC Settlement Fund, forcing out its independent administrator and handing the Attorney General veto power over awards,” Knights said. “The fund remains woefully underfunded, with more than a thousand claims in limbo and no path to honoring the state’s existing commitments. These are structural failures no single appointment can fix, but we are hopeful Judge Boyle will bring independence and fairness to a process that has been badly undermined by political interference. The survivors we represent have waited decades for justice, and we will judge this appointment by whether it moves them closer to the resolution they were promised.”
A law enacted last year gave the governor the authority to appoint the administrator of the fund. Lawyers representing alleged victims filed a lawsuit challenging the law but a judge dismissed the case. Attorneys said they intend to appeal the ruling.
In his letter, Formella said that many lawyers for the claimants “fully support Judge Boyle’s nomination, and none expressed any opposition.”
Formella said he believes there’s consensus around the nomination, and there has been no alternative candidate proposed by the alleged victims’ lawyers.
More than 2,200 people filed claims alleging they were abused when, per court order, they were detained at the YDC. So far, the state has paid out nearly $240 million.