Fabian & Clendenin is especially perplexed that the suit was filed in Salt Lake County and not where the miners worked and lived, nor where the mine is located. He charged that was done to take advantage of the Salt Lake area media because that is the "biggest forum to smear my clients, as well as Mr. Murray, with half-truths and innuendo, to achieve (the plaintiff's) financial goal ...

"Most of the allegations are blatantly false and unnecessarily hurtful," Anderson said. "Much of what the attorneys complain about relates to events that preceded or were in play prior to my client's purchase of the mine."

The suit's statements about the rescue attempts are wrong, he wrote. The companies, and particularly their owner, Bob Murray, "did an outstanding job during the rescue effort under the most stressful circumstances, and those persons who were present and actually know the facts overwhelmingly verify this."

What happened at the mine was a "horribly tragic and completely unforeseen event of immense and unprecedented magnitude," Anderson added. "Our clients did not cause this."

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E-mail: bau@desnews.com; sfidel@desnews.com