Springdale, Arkansas officials have asked a judge to throw out a federal lawsuit filed by four members of the Duggar family of TLC fame.
At issue is the allegedly illegal release of documents.
Four Duggar women sued Northwest Arkansas officials, claiming they improperly released police investigation documents to a tabloid.
A police investigation in the 2000s determined that Josh Duggar, the family’s oldest child, fondled the girls and at least one other girl.
No charges were filed against Josh Duggar because by the time officials learned of the incident, the statute of limitations had lapsed.
In 2015, the story was published by In Touch Weekly, stunning the public and irreparably changing the way the Duggars are perceived.
The sisters’ lawsuit was filed in federal court in Fayetteville, alleging invasion of privacy, outrage and violation of the right to due process.
According to multiple media reports, the lawsuit filed against the city officials seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.
The officials from the city argue that they have immunity from legal action in this case, and that the lawsuit is a baseless cash grab.
In addition to various city officials, defendants include Bauer Media Group, the publisher of In Touch Weekly and related social media sites.
The lawsuit also lists 10 unidentified "Doe" defendants, believed to be employees of the defendants named specifically in the case.
Jill Dillard, Jessa Seewald, Jinger Vuolo and Joy-Anna Duggar, the plaintiffs, are members of the family featured on TLC’s Counting On.
Previously, they starred on 19 Kids & Counting, which garnered 3.6 million viewers as recently as May 2015 before the scandal broke.
TLC canceled the show before reviving it in its present form, which maintains a considerably smaller albeit loyal following to this day.
Having previously filed to add his name to his sisters’ case, Josh Duggar pulled out of the lawsuit last month for unspecified reasons.
It was revealed, thanks to the celebrity tabloid in question, that Josh confessed to "inappropriate touching" of his sisters in March 2002.
Then just a teenager himself, he admitted he had run hands over young girls in the family home as they slept, their parents said later.
Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar say they told the girls about the incident, disciplined their son and took precautions to prevent a recurrence.
They did not seek outside help for this.
Their choice to handle such an event "in house" for years, before eventually telling police (who also did nothing), was widely criticized.
Later in 2015, Josh was also outed as a user of Ashley Madison and went to sex rehab for cheating on wife Anna and porn addiction.
The motion to dismiss the lawsuit argues that the girls fail to make a constitutional claim against the city or establish intentional conduct.
A tort is an act injuring someone, after which the injured person may sue the wrongdoer for damages. Springdale says that didn’t happen.
The defendants’ attorneys said in their motion:
"In their complaint against the Springdale defendants the plaintiffs use such turns of phrase as ‘contrary to the bounds of human decency’ and ‘basic notions of civility and personal dignity’ and ‘horrible and blatant re-victimization’ in order to advance claims for damages."
"The allegations of fact in the complaint, rather than the hyperbolic turns of phrase, are assumed to be true at this stage."
"Yet a close examination of the alleged facts reveals that individual Springdale defendants acted not outrageously, but well within the protection provided by the doctrine of qualified immunity."
