Knox County's legal team
says it won't offer tax payer dollars to compensate residents who allege that
they were wrongfully arrested because of mistakes made by the criminal court
clerk's office.
And, attorneys have
submitted the paperwork asking the Knox County Circuit Court to throw out one
lawsuit, saying the county and its officials are protected from such legal
action.
So far, two residents have
asked for damages, and local leaders say they expect more legal action soon.
In one case, a Seymour
teenager last November filed a demand letter with the county that asked for
$50,000 after he was arrested for driving on a revoked license a year earlier
that wasn't supposed to be suspended. He has not taken further action.
In another case, Jodi
Denise White, who spent 31 hours in jail in January 2013, sued the county last
month, alleging false arrest, false imprisonment and an invasion of privacy.
She too, asked for $50,000.
The county's law
department, though, isn't budging and has now provided a glimpse into how its
attorneys plan to defend what could turn into a series of lawsuits.
In a motion to dismiss
filed Jan. 28, Knox County Deputy Law Director David Buuck says the county is
immune to White's claims under Tennessee's Government Tort Liability Act and
established case law.
Buuck, who declined to comment
Friday, noted that court officers "enjoy absolute immunity from suit on
claims arising out of the performance of judicial or quasi-judicial
functions," so that they are able "to act freely without the threat
of a lawsuit."
"The issuance of an
arrest warrant is a truly judicial act," Buuck wrote. "Because it is,
a court clerk is entitled to absolute immunity from a lawsuit connected with
the issuance of a warrant."
Knox County Criminal Court
Clerk Joy McCroskey and her office have been under fire for months now after a
WBIR Channel 10 investigation detailed problems inside her office that appear
tied to poor training, outdated information, and her refusal to cooperate with
other county departments.
Her workers often enter the
wrong data into the records management system, lose crucial paperwork and
provide defendants, prosecutors, and authorities with bad information, a 10News
analysis found.
As a result, the errors
that have led to wrongful arrests, cases set aside due to errors and resident
temporarily losing their right to vote.
White, who was featured in
one of the stories, initially pleaded guilty to driving under the influence in
March 2011. A year later she completed the terms of her probation, yet learned
that a warrants was still showing as pending in the county's criminal database.
Records show that she
talked with officials in the General Sessions Court and was assured that the
warrant was dismissed.
Then in January 2013, she
was stopped in Lenoir City for speeding. She was released on a $500 cash bond,
which officials returned to her the next day when they let her go.
However, her car was towed
when she was taken into custody for 31 hours. That cost her more than $150,
which she never got back, she previously told WBIR.
Her attorney, William Taylor,
did not return a call seeking comment Friday.
A date has not been set to
hear her case, but at least one local attorney who specializes in civil rights
violations and often represents government entities against lawsuits said the
county has a "very well-reasoned" and "good and valid"
defense.
"The Governmental Tort
Liability Act affirms that all county governmental entities are immune from
suit involving injuries that relate of the operation of governmental
functions," said Jonathan Taylor with Taylor & Knight. "It allows
county governments to operate and continue to perform the kind of functions
that are necessary to government work without the fear of suit from
citizens."
He added: "There was
always this judicial immunity for judges who were integral to the process of
justice . . . (but) the exception of judicial immunity has been extended now to
deputy clerks, clerks, criminal court clerks."
Taylor said he expects the
county's circuit court to eventually dismiss White's complains, adding the
"only way around it now" would be to amend the original complaint and
allege a civil rights violation under section 1983 of the federal civil rights
act – the primary means of enforcing all constitutional rights – and allow Knox
County to remove it to federal court.
"All bets are off at
that point," he said. "It allows you to get in to different claims –
failure to train, failure to supervise.
"All of these are
basic civil rights that we have as citizens of the United States and the
federal Constitution protects in this instance false arrest and your rights to
essentially operate as a citizen of the United States to drive freely on the
streets of Tennessee without begin subjected to arrest," he added.
However, Taylor suggested
that at this point it would be up to the county to agree to remove the case and
it's not something he expects would happen, since the county would lose many of
its legal protections.
