The living conditions forced upon Olivia Griffin as a child were so inhumane that a judge awarded her nearly $30 million in damages from her adoptive parents.
But whether the New Boston police department, which responded to the home repeatedly over the span of nearly a decade, should also be held financially liable, is now before the New Hampshire Supreme Court.
The justices heard oral arguments on Tuesday during which Griffin’s attorney, Michael Lewis, said the police department’s failure to investigate her safety made them negligent. New Boston police were called to the home in 2007 and twice in 2009 for allegations of domestic violence, child and elder abuse involving other members of the household. In 2011, Griffin’s older brother detailed the abuse his sister faced, which included psychological taunting, a lack of food, and confinement inside a windowless room in the basement.
In 2015, Griffin, who was 12 at the time, jumped out of a second floor window to escape. She fled to a neighboring town before she was ultimately returned by New Boston police to the home.
“Week after week, [police] left her there to be subjected to more violence and more risk of violence in the same home,” Lewis told justices.
But New Boston police argue that they did not have firsthand knowledge of abuse against Griffin. The department’s attorney, Brian Cullen, said that there is no evidence that she disclosed her living conditions to a police officer in 2015.
“What we do know is that there's no suggestion in the record or even today, that Miss Griffin, that Olivia, provided him with any information to suggest that she had been abused,” said Cullen.
He added that police do not necessarily have the “duty to go back in time and look at the other issues” under state law, such as previous calls to the home.
Justice Melissa Countway appeared to take exception to that argument, asking Cullen, “How is there no duty if you have a 12-year-old who has been located in a different town and you're trying to figure out what to do next?”
In 2018, Griffin, then 15, scratched her way out of a room in the basement, and fled to safety. She was placed in a foster home, and police filed criminal abuse charges against her parents, Thomas and Denise Atkocaitis. Her father was found guilty and served six months in jail, while her adoptive mother served no time.
Griffin initially sued both her parents, as well as the New Hampshire Division of Children, Youth and Families, and New Boston, seeking financial damages. After hearing her testimony, Superior Court Judge John Kissinger awarded Griffin nearly $30 million in compensation from her parents, a figure believed to be far in excess of what they could afford. The state settled the case with Griffin for an undisclosed amount.
But Kissinger dismissed the case against seven named New Boston police officers, ruling they didn’t have actual knowledge of the abuse she endured.
During 30 minutes of oral arguments, the justices hearing the case asked sharp questions of both attorneys. The court will now decide whether to order the civil case against the police to resume in superior court, or uphold Kissinger’s ruling dismissing the suit.
After escaping from her home, Griffin completed high school, and in 2025, graduated with honors from Plymouth State University, where she was elected class president.
