Hundreds of people sued the Tennessee Valley Authority for damages before a one-year deadline to file personal injury claims related to the utility's huge coal ash spill at Kingston.

Court clerks said 20 more federal lawsuits were filed in Knoxville on the final day before the Monday deadline, most of them seeking damages for multiple plaintiffs.

TVA has filed motions that contend the nation's largest public utility was providing a government service and is immune from such damage claims.

An attorney with clients seeking damages in 28 lawsuits, John Agee of Clinton, said Tuesday that instead of a court fight, some sort of administrative agency should be set up to deal with the claims. They stem from the Dec. 22, 2008 spill and TVA's continuing cleanup at the coal-fired plant about 40 miles west of Knoxville.