TBA Law Blog


Posted by: Azya Thornton on Apr 13, 2026

A Knoxville man has filed a federal lawsuit against the Knox County Sheriff’s Office, alleging he was wrongly arrested and jailed for three days after deputies failed to verify his identity. According to Knox News, Justin Clark was taken into custody in March 2025 on a warrant for another man with the same name, despite differences in middle name, birth date and Social Security number. He also alleges he was without medication for a kidney disease for those days. When jail staff learned of their error Clark was released March 19 and he learned he had lost his job. Clark is suing for false arrest, false imprisonment and violations of his constitutionally guaranteed Fourth and 14th Amendment violations, and is seeking $100,000 in compensatory damages. The lawsuit, originally filed in Knox County Circuit Court in March, was transferred to U.S. District Court last week.