County says it's 'immune' to wrongful arrests lawsuit, asks to dismiss

The Knox County Law Department has been pretty tight-lipped publicly about the criminal court clerk’s office and the allegations that mistakes made there have led to a number of major problems, including wrongful arrests.

That’s changed.

The county says it can't be sued for wrongful arrests

Awhile back Jodi White, who was taken into custody for more than 30 hours, sued the county. The law department has now filed a motion to dismiss, saying that state law protects it from being sued.

Now, that argument probably won’t work in every case, but smart money says it does in this one.

Attorneys I’ve talked to say that White should have filed in federal court where certain state laws wouldn’t protect the county. Her attorney didn’t do that, and now the statute of limitations have run its course, so they can’t go back and refile the lawsuit – not without the county agreeing to remove it to federal court.

And the county isn’t going to do that.

Here’s the full story.