JOPLIN, Mo. —
A lawsuit filed by the daughter of a former county ward against Rita Hunter, former Jasper County public administrator, will take place in Jasper County if the matter goes to court.
Judge David Dally on Friday overruled a defense motion that the trial should take place in another county.
The judge said he would rule early next week on defense arguments that the case should be dismissed or should be continued to a later date.
A Sept. 7 trial date is scheduled for a jury trial in which Dolores Forste is suing Hunter for damages after Forste was arrested when she took her mother Emma France out of Jasper County and home with her to Needles, Calif.
Forste, then 67, was arrested the day before Thanksgiving in 2007 and was held in jail in San Bernardino County, Calif., then transported back to Jasper County where she was freed after posting bond in early December. Arguments on her behalf contend she was the victim of false arrest and malicious prosecution. A later court ruling voided actions that made France a ward of the county, after finding that no attempt was made to notify relatives and that France was not allowed to be at the hearing.
Defense attorneys told the judge Hunter could not be held responsible for Forste’s arrest, which they say was the result of actions by police and a local special prosecutor. They also argued that the case should be continued because they have not been able to get access to some documents they need from the public administrator’s office during that time because office files are in Kansas City and unavailable due to a federal investigation of operations of the administrator’s office during Hunter’s tenure.
Pick up a copy of Saturday’s Joplin Globe for more details on this story.
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