Lineweaver still on hot seat over juvenile records

Metro Juvenile Court Clerk Vic Lineweaver is again receiving criticism over his handling of records from the juvenile court system.

In an e-mail sent to area media, one juvenile court referee claims that Lineweaver’s office presented case orders to her office for approval some six months to a year after the original information had been filed.

Lineweaver and court officials confirmed receiving the e-mail Oct. 24 that questioned why the clerk’s office delivered court orders with no explanation as to why they were delivered late.

“This is a major issue because of it being orders that were apparently dormant in their office down there for an extended period of time that has impact on persons’ lives within the community,” said Tim Adgent, Juvenile Court Administrator.

All the files pertain to either orders of protection — a court order that could potentially stop abuse, for example, or orders of support — a court order for child support.

Adgent said that by filing these late, a person could possibly go without paying children support for some time without being held accountable. In regard to orders of protection, he said not filing them on time could delay entering data into the Metro Police database that could then possibly “place a person in jeopardy in the community.”

“That, again, is what led to an official communication from the referee to the clerk about the level of concern that have about the orders,” Adgent said.

Lineweaver said he has implemented new procedures in his office to prevent any further problems with records.

“With the new procedures in place, it’s being addressed,” Lineweaver said.

The juvenile court clerk said operations in his office have vastly improved over the last three months since adding more staff to handle records issues.

Lineweaver was arrested in August on contempt of court charges for failing to produce documents deemed critical to the functioning of the juvenile court system.

Last year, he had refused to submit a comprehensive response to a performance audit, which found his office had mismanaged files and asked Metro Council at the same time to provide funding for two new clerk staffers.

Lineweaver said his arrest was not warranted and he has retained lawyers for potential litigation resulting from his incarceration.

“[The arrest] was not warranted,” Lineweaver said. “When you have 200 files that was given to them and only two was missing — no. I am the first clerk in the State of Tennessee and everybody’s human, we usually find the file.”