Chase Home for Children v. New Hampshire Div. for Children, Youth and Fam.
Annotate this CaseDefendant New Hampshire Division for Children, Yought and Families (DCYF) appealed a superior court order that it pay Plaintiff Chase Home for Children over $3 million. The dispute concerned rates the DCYF paid to the Chase home for fiscal years 2004 through 2006 pursuant to Provider Service Agreements the home had with DCYF. Due to state budget cuts, DCYF notified its contracted service providers like Chase that it would be unable to increase rates. The service providers asked DCYF to reconsider, claiming that the then-current rates were inconsistent with the agency's own rules. A hearing panel established that DCYF underpaid the service providers. The providers requested the panel order DCYF to pay them, but the panel ruled it lacked authority to do so. The providers appealed to the Supreme Court. Upon review, the Supreme Court found that the legislature specifically authorized the courts to enter a monetary judgment against the State when it breaches a contract: "to hold otherwise would require [the Court] to ignore these legislative directives and to permit a State agency to disregard its contractual obligations. Such a result finds no support in New Hampshire law." The Court therefore affirmed the hearing panel's conclusion and ordered DCYF to pay the service providers for the underpayments.
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.