Murray Energy responds to lawsuit filed in death of 6 miners

The families of 6 men killed at Utah's Crandall Canyon mine are suing the owners, claiming the deaths were caused by an unsafe plan to harvest coal.

The lawsuit was filed today in Salt Lake City

A lawyer for mine co-owner Murray Energy calls the allegations of negligence made in the lawsuit_ quote - "blatantly false and unnecessarily hurtful."

Kevin Anderson says the lawsuit contains numerous false statements and that comments from the attorneys for the families were part of an effort to "smear" Murray Energy chief Bob Murray.

Murray Energy denies any wrongdoing and contends much of the lawsuit points to events that preceded its ownership of the mine.

Anderson writes that what happened at the Crandall Canyon mine last August was a horribly tragic and completely unforeseen event of immense and unprecedented magnitude.