The legal fight over David Meehan’s $38 million jury award for abuse at the state’s juvenile jail is with the New Hampshire Supreme Court. Thursday, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments from Meehan’s lawyer, Daniel Deane, and New Hampshire Solicitor General Anthony Galdieri, representing the state. The decision could have significant repercussions for the hundreds of abuse survivors with pending lawsuits.

A jury awarded Meehan, who is the first to take his case to trial, a $38 million verdict last year. Following the verdict, the trial judge slashed the award at the state’s request to $475,000 at the state's request, citing a state law that caps the state's civil liability to that amount per incident.

Now the state Supreme Court must determine what counts as an incident of state li

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