There’s been a lot of legal stuff going on with the Duggar clan of late. The most notable of these was Josh Duggar’s trial and subsequent conviction on child pornography charges. Other Duggar sister Jana is also dealing with a minor legal incident and her famous sisters Jinger, Joy-Anna, Jessa and Jill are also embroiled in a lawsuit of their own. The latter was supposed to go to court the same week as Josh Duggar’s trial, but has officially been delayed.
Reports this week indicate that that a lawsuit the reality stars had initiated against varying parties, including the city of Springdale, Arkansas, had been scheduled to begin before the New Year. The trial date related to the suit had been scheduled for December 9, 2021. However, those of you who followed the Josh Duggar trial may already know that while his stint in court began the week of November 21, it ran through December 9. Many Duggar family members were present in the courtroom during that trial.
The sisters' trial was ultimately delayed, with a potential settlement to be conferred on February 18, according to a report over at The Sun. If the trial moves forward, the new court date will be April 18, 2022, with a pre-trial conference set a little earlier in the schedule on April 11. The trial itself is expected to last 7 days.
Interestingly, a source close to the situation reported to the outlet that the trial had been delayed and that the delay could very well have ramifications for the Duggar sisters’ own suit. To understand how one could impact the other, you need the background on the Duggar sisters’ suit. The gist is Joy-Anna Forsyth, Jessa Seewald, Jill Dillard, and Jinger Vuolo are suing the city of Springdale, varying police officers and others over a molestation report that was released to In Touch back in 2015 and led to the cancellation of 19 Kids and Counting, in which Josh prominently appeared.
The molestation report was released to the outlet as part of a Freedom of Information Act request and detailed how Josh Duggar had molested several young women when he was still a minor, including four of his sisters. No charges had ever been filed in the case, but the molestation report came up as a topic of interest in Josh Duggar’s recent child pornography case as well.
To also note, a similar suit Josh Duggar had previously filed was dropped, yet the lawsuit from the four Duggar sisters was noted to be different because they were victims in the case, and had filed around the idea that after the report came to light it put them in the spotlight in an unwarranted way, and caused major distress as well as ramifications to their careers. In fact, 19 Kids and Counting was cancelled after the report broke (though a second series without Josh, Counting On, was later commissioned).
Now, per the source at The Sun, the outcome of the eldest Duggar brother’s trial may have ramifications in this suit. They noted:
They've been allowed to proceed on their case against the police department and a couple of police officers.That was supposed to go to trial the same week as Josh’s trial, but it got reset. If there is a trial, the damages could be cut as a consequence of Josh’s conviction.
The source was not named, and the comment is based on speculation that Duggar's conviction could impact the other case. However, given the molestation report was a talking point when it came to what would be and would not be incorporated into the child pornography trial, it is interesting how the Josh Duggar court case and the Duggar sisters’ case came to be interwoven in some ways all these years later. The Duggar sisters’ lawsuit was filed in 2017.
