In Touch magazine has exclusively obtained text messages via the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) in which the Duggar family lawyer, Kevin Crass, threatens to sue the City of Springdale, Arkansas.

In the messages, Crass tells the director of legal services for the Arkansas Municipal League, Mark R. Hayes, “I am a conservative defense lawyer and I don’t see a defense of the chief’s actions.” He continues, “If there is not a desire to resolve there will be an expensive (and embarrassing) lawsuit.” (He is referring to Springdale police chief Kathy O’Kelley).

In another text message conversation exclusively obtained by +In Touch+ magazine also through the FOIA, Mark R. Hayes tells the City Attorney Ernest B. Cate that the Duggars have retained a lawyer — and that he’d advised the Duggars’ spokesperson that if they were considering litigation against the city for releasing the report, “they would be well-suited to open discussions with [the] city behind closed doors.”

Cate later emailed Hayes, mocking the Duggars and criticizing questions posed by Fox News. “So is this their strategy, that they are the victims of some liberal conspiracy????” he wrote.

The officials in the city of Washington County also feared the Duggar family may take legal action against them — despite the lawful release of a redacted police report detailing Josh’s shocking crimes.

In an email obtained exclusively by In Touch via FOIA, Washington County attorney Steve Zega wrote to prosecuting attorney Matt Durrett: “I think there’s too much money and interest in this for us not to get sued.”

According to the documents, Zega then urged Durrett to contact someone in the attorney general’s office with a heads-up.

The Duggars plan to go down swinging, a family insider tells In Touch, after the cancellation of 19 Kids and Counting. “The family fortune has taken a massive hit — and they’re fighting back against everyone. It smacks of desperation.”

For more details on the Duggars’ scandal, pickup the latest issue of In Touch magazine, on newsstands now!