New Hampshire Sexual Abuse Lawsuits

New Hampshire has made good progress on their civil statute of limitations (SOL) laws since 2002. In 2020, the state passed a law eliminating the civil SOL for incest and sexual assault of a minor. These changes have helped survivors of sexual abuse pursue justice against their abusers in the courts, and potentially allows for compensation. These laws enable lawyers handling sexual abuse claims in New Hampshire to file cases against sexual predators, including clergy members, and the Catholic Church.

Below you will find New Hampshire lawsuits news & updates, as well as additional information on New Hampshire’s statute of limitations laws. These laws are important because they dictate how long a lawyer handling New Hampshire sexual assault cases has to file a claim on behalf of a survivor. In addition, we’ve compiled a list of New Hampshire’s settlements and jury awards received by sexual abuse and assault survivors and a list of New Hampshire’s ‘credibly’ accused priests released by the dioceses.

New Hampshire Statute of Limitations for Sexual Abuse & Assault

In 2005 and again in 2008, New Hampshire made improvements to its civil SOL reform legislation. Most recently in 2020, New Hampshire passed legislation that greatly improved its civil SOL laws.

Criminal Statute of Limitations Laws for New Hampshire

In 1990, New Hampshire set its criminal SOL for felony sex abuse survivors at age 40 (age of majority 18, plus 22 years). However, in 2020, New Hampshire legislators are working to pass laws that would eliminate the criminal SOL for all survivors of felony and misdemeanor sexual assaults. Additionally, the state is working to extend the criminal SOL for 1st and 2nd degree felony assaults of minors to age 24 (18, plus 6 years). Child USA, who has evaluated every state based on their criminal statute of limitations laws, gave New Hampshire a Criminal SOL letter grade of D, on the traditional A-F scale, where A is the best. A letter grade of D is defined as a criminal SOL for sexual abuse survivors between the age of 40 to 50.

Civil Statute of Limitations Laws for New Hampshire

In 2008, New Hampshire extended the civil SOL for sexual abuse survivors to age 30 (age of majority, 18, plus 12 years) to go with its 3-year discovery rule, or when a connection to the sexual abuse is made, to file a claim. In 2020, state legislators passed a law that eliminated the civil SOL age cap for incest and sexual assault. Child USA, who has also evaluated every state based on their civil statute of limitations laws, gave New Hampshire a Civil SOL Age Cap letter grade of A, on the traditional A-F scale, where A is the best. A letter grade of A is defined as no age cap for all claims.

If you or someone you love was sexually abused or assaulted in New Hampshire, contact us now. Those sexually abused as a minor may still have a claim against their abuser, depending upon how long ago the abuse occurred. Even if the abuser is deceased, you may still have a claim against the organization responsible. Don’t wait to file your claim.

Go to our main sexual abuse page to learn more about the process of filing a clergy sexual abuse case.

New Hampshire Sexual Abuse Settlements

The Catholic Diocese of Manchester, NH has agreed to pay out nearly $30 million to victims of child sex abuse. Below outlines the timeline and details of the related settlements.

October 2002 – The Diocese of Manchester settled claims for a total of $950,000 with 16 men who were allegedly sexually abused by priests. The men claimed that 8 priests sexually abused them when they were boys from 1957 to 1982. The settlement included a letter from the bishop to each man apologizing for the hurt they suffered. He also offered to meet with them individually.

November 2002 – The Diocese of Manchester paid out over $5 million to 62 victims of sexual abuse committed by clergy members in the region. The alleged sexual abuse dated back to the 1950s and involved 31 clergy members including 28 priests.

May 2003 – The Diocese of Manchester announced that they paid out a total of $15,450,000 in claims to 176 sexual abuse victims over the prior 11 months. Four of the 176 victims, three men and one woman, claim that they were sexually abused by three Manchester Diocesan priests from 1972 through 1990. The Diocese has accepted the claims as truthful. “We’ve accepted these [claims] as credible accusations,” said diocesan spokesman Pat McGee at the time. In total, the sexual abuses dated back to the early 1950s and 23 priests were identified as the abusers.

July 2019 – The Diocese of Manchester announced that it had paid out approximately $30 million to sexual abuse victims. Based on prior sexual abuse settlement announcements, the diocese paid out approximately $14 million in claims to victims from 2003 to 2019.

*The settlements listed above are offered for educational purposes only and do not guarantee any future outcome or settlement. Each legal situation is different, and past performance does not guarantee future results. We do not maintain that is a full list of all settlements in the state of New Hampshire but merely a grouping of those we choose to share on our website. Please contact us if you would like additional settlements included or if you notice any inaccuracies on our site. We strive to provide our viewers the most up to date and accurate information as possible.

New Hampshire Catholic Church Clergy Credibly Accused Lists

The Diocese of Manchester has released the following list of priests, deemed to have been credibly accused of sexual abuse of a minor according to their website.

Diocese of Manchester Credibly Accused Priest List

Click to view our larger list of priests accused of sexual abuse. Here you can search by accused clergy first and last name, Parish/Diocese, city and state, and even by the years of their assignments.

New Hampshire Sexual Abuse Lawsuits: News & Updates