FAYETTEVILLE -- Josh Duggar has filed a motion to intervene in his sisters' lawsuit over the police release of information related to allegations that he sexually abused his sisters while they were young.
Four daughters of the Jim Bob Duggar family sued officials in May, saying the officials improperly released police documents to a magazine that then published the information.
The sisters' lawsuit was filed in federal court in Fayetteville. The lawsuit's claims include invasion of privacy, outrage and violation of the right to due process. The lawsuit seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.
The sisters are Jill Dillard, Jessa Seewald, Jinger Vuolo and Joy Duggar.
[DOCUMENT: Read full court filings by Josh Duggar]
A lawsuit by Josh Duggar largely mirrors that of his sisters, but he argues that he should be made a party to their suit because their suit cannot adequately represent his personal interests. If the motion to intervene is granted, his lawsuit would be combined with that of his sisters.
Police investigated allegations of sexual abuse against Josh Duggar in 2006, related to incidents in 2002 and 2003, but no charges were filed. However, a Family in Need of Services petition was filed in Washington County Juvenile Court. The sisters were minors at the time of the allegations.
Both lawsuits contend that police assured the family that information from the investigation and their interviews would be available only to law enforcement, juvenile court and child services personnel.
Listed defendants include the city of Springdale, Washington County, former Springdale Police Chief Kathy O'Kelley, Springdale City Attorney Ernest Cate, Maj. Rick Hoyt with the Washington County sheriff's office, former Washington County Attorney Steve Zega and Bauer Media Group, which published In Touch Weekly magazine and related social media sites. The lawsuit also lists 10 unidentified "Doe" defendants, believed to be employees of the defendants.
Josh Duggar's motion to intervene and his lawsuit, filed by attorney Travis Story, says that under stand law the information should not have been released and Josh Duggar, as a juvenile, had an expectation that the information would remain confidential.
"Despite the clear language of the Arkansas law, the investigative records were released, negligently, intentionally or maliciously, by authorities of the City of Springdale and Washington County to a tabloid magazine with worldwide distribution," according to his lawsuit.
The suit says Josh Duggar has suffered emotional distress, embarrassment, humiliation and economic harm to his personal and professional reputations as a result of the records' release.
Springdale officials released -- from Harrington & Miller, their lawyers, on behalf of O'Kelley and Cate -- a response to the sisters' lawsuit, calling the suit unfortunate, misguided, without merit and false.
Both suits allege that the officials released documents to the magazine under a Freedom of Information Act request in violation of state laws that prohibit the release of such information to protect juveniles and victims of sexual abuse. In Touch published the information for financial gain and to embarrass the Duggars, according to the lawsuits. A judge's order subsequently sealed the documents.
O'Kelley and Cate improperly decided that the offense report should be released to the public, the lawsuits claim. They say O'Kelley and Cate supervised the Police Department's redaction and release of the offense report in violation of the Arkansas juvenile code, the Arkansas Code, and the Arkansas and United States constitutions.
The Duggars were stars of the TLC cable channel show 19 Kids and Counting, which drew 3.6 million viewers as recently as May 2015. Reruns of the show were pulled after the magazine reported on May 21, 2015, that Josh Duggar had been the subject of a Springdale police investigation that he fondled some young girls in his home. TLC later canceled the show.
In March 2002, Josh Duggar, then 14, revealed to his parents that he had run his hands over young girls in the family home as they slept, the parents said in an interview aired June 3, 2015, by Fox News. The parents informed the girls, disciplined their son and took precautions to prevent a recurrence, but didn't seek outside assistance, Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar said in the interview.
The fact that Josh Duggar confessed before anyone found out about the behavior and showed remorse gave them hope that he would change his ways, the Duggars said.
Josh Duggar admitted in July 2002 that he took similar actions regarding girls who had fallen asleep on the family couch, they said, and made a third admission in March 2003 that he touched two girls while they were awake. By then, five girls, including four sisters and a house guest, had been fondled, the parents said.
The Duggars took him to report what he had done to an Arkansas State Police employee, according to the Springdale police report. The corporal did not report the matter to the state's child abuse hotline, as required by law.
Springdale police did not learn about the incident until someone anonymously called the abuse hotline in 2006. By then, the statute of limitations had run out on any applicable criminal charges. Springdale police were advised when the magazine filed the Freedom of Information Act request that the protections afforded juvenile offenders no longer applied in the case.
The lawsuit says Hoyt and Zega released an unredacted police incident report that allowed the public to identify each of the victims.
The reports formed the basis of In Touch stories, according to the lawsuit. Josh Duggar resigned his position as a lobbyist for a group run by the conservative Family Research Council and acknowledged wrongdoing in a public statement on May 21, 2015.
"Plaintiffs endured harsh and unwarranted public scrutiny," the sisters' lawsuit alleges. "Defendants' actions forced plaintiffs to relive painful memories and experiences that occurred almost ten years prior, resulting in plaintiffs suffering severe mental anguish and distress," according to the lawsuit.
The suit asks a judge to order In Touch to hand over the profit it made by commercially exploiting the situation and order it to stop publishing the identifying information.
Metro on 06/07/2017