INQUISITR.COM / Entertainment

Josh Duggar Seeks Victim Status In Sisters’ Lawsuit — Social Media Erupts

By Roz Zurko
Published on: 14:09 PST, Jun 6, 2017

Josh Duggar seeks to join his sisters in a lawsuit targeting the people who exposed their identities after the Duggar sisters reported to the police that Josh had molested them years ago. While the Duggar sisters are seeing a lot of support from the public, the same can’t be said for Josh, who is seeking to join this suit, which is asking for damages from the people responsible for bringing this to the public.

The four Duggar sisters have signed onto a lawsuit against the city of Springdale and Washington County, Arkansas, and the In Touch Weekly publishers. These are the people that the lawsuit claims had a hand in exposing the four Duggar girls and this breach of privacy lawsuit is aiming to get the sisters compensated for the humiliation and pain.

Josh filed a motion on Friday to join this suit as he is also looking for compensation for his name being revealed. From what the reports are saying today, Josh Duggar appears to take on a victim’s role in the filing. The Daily Mail reports Josh claims there’s plenty of sympathy for his siblings, but he is nothing but a “pariah” to the public. Josh might feel like an outcast now, but what will happen if he does infiltrate this lawsuit and takes on a victim status like his sisters? People were already unhappy about Josh attempting to find his way back into the public eye recently and acting like nothing has happened, as seen in the tweet below.

While the four female siblings from the show 19 Kids and Counting have plenty of support from the public, their brother Josh is another story. The sisters told police how years ago their brother Josh Duggar had molested them and a babysitter and they were promised by the detectives that what they said, along with their identity, would remain confidential.

That didn’t happen and the scandal broke, causing the Duggar family the loss of their highly popular reality show. The TLC Network show, 19 Kids and Counting, followed the family through their trials and tribulations in life. The family is very religious and the morals and values of the Duggar brood offered up good family entertainment. That is until this reveal about the molestation years ago uprooted their lives, reports USA Today.

Between March of 2002 and March of 2003, Jill Duggar Dillard, Jessa Duggar Seewald, Jinger Duggar Vuolo, and Joy Duggar reported that they were molested by their brother Josh. At this time the sisters were all minors. Reports surfaced back in 2015 after the police talked to the Duggar sisters following a tip they had gotten about the molestations. The sisters were promised confidentiality by the investigators who interviewed the girls about the claims.

Then the story broke after In Touch Magazine had gotten a hold of the court documents. The four Duggar sisters’ lawsuit is based on the investigators breaching their agreement when In Touch obtained documents that made it easy to identify the girls and the family.

In Touch obtained the documents through a basic public records request. It didn’t take long for the story to spread worldwide, leaving the Duggar sisters mortified and humiliated. It was like they became victims once again, they’ve said in interviews. The sentiment coming from social media sites regarding Josh Duggar pretty much mirrors the tweet below. Many people are appalled that he is calling himself a victim.

When Josh Duggar filed a request to join the suit, he stated that what was publicly revealed caused him “to relive painful memories and experiences,” reports the Huron Daily Tribune. His lawyer said that he too was “subject to the humiliation and extreme mental anguish of being publicly identified.” Josh’s case also states that he was faced “with unwarranted public scrutiny” from the identity of the family members being revealed.

This did not fly with people across the social media sites. The Duggar girls suffered twice, many suggested: first, during the initial event when they were kids, and second when the incident was revealed to the public years later. As far as the Duggar sisters’ case, their attorney stated that this lawsuit is about protecting kids who have been abused. The attorneys for the sisters said in a statement, “Revealing juvenile identities under these circumstances is unacceptable, and it’s against the law. The media and custodians of public records who let these children down must be held accountable.”

The Duggar sisters, who are all in their 20s today, filed this lawsuit back in March, according to the Daily Mail. As far as the social media users and the commenters on the many articles online today about Josh Duggar attempting to join his sisters’ lawsuit, many people didn’t take kindly to the news. Josh himself pretty much summed it up when he said that the public has sympathy for his sisters, but they’re treating him like an outcast.

Many people have pointed a finger at the Duggar parents. Some of the comments put a lot of, if not all, the blame on them for their son reportedly molesting four siblings under their roof. A commenter on the Daily Mail sees Josh as displaying “hypocrisy and arrogance,” two words used often on the social media sites today.

[Featured Image by Danny Johnston/AP Images]

Share this article: Josh Duggar Seeks Victim Status In Sisters’ Lawsuit — Social Media Erupts
duggar family josh duggar 19 kids and counting
More from Inquisitr