DUCHESNE — The children of a man who was shot, killed and blown up by his former boss and the boss's hired hand have filed a wrongful-death lawsuit in 8th District Court.
Melody Butler and Preston G. Tanner, both of Roosevelt, the two grown children of Rex K. Tanner, are seeking damages from the two men convicted of murdering him — Duchesne County rancher John R. Pinder and his hired hand, Filomeno Valenchia-Ruiz — on the grounds of assault and battery, false imprisonment, conspiracy and abuse of a corpse.
In their lawsuit the plaintiffs also alleged that the JJNP Ranch is guilty of negligent hiring in their father's death by "allowing a lion-toting, gun-brandishing, threat-issuing and explosive-detonating employee with a history and attitude of intending bodily harm to others" to work on the ranch. The JJNP Ranch is owned by the Pinder family of Park City.
According to court documents, the plaintiffs suffered "grief, bereavement, mental anguish and suffering and other general damages" due to the loss of their father and the manner in which his body was destroyed after his death.
Tanner's children are seeking more than $1,000 for medical expenses and funeral expenses, $10,000 for Rex Tanner's lost earnings, and $10,000 because his estate "has suffered a loss of enjoyment of life and other hedonic damages." They are also seeking an unspecified amount in punitive damages and court costs.
Eighth District Judge John R. Anderson last week denied a motion filed by Pinder's attorneys for a change of venue after the defendant's legal counsel failed to appear for a hearing in Roosevelt. Pinder's murder trial was moved from Duchesne County to Wasatch County after the court found that pretrial publicity would make it difficult to seat an impartial jury.
Rex Tanner and his companion June Flood were murdered on Oct. 25, 1998, at a remote site on the JJNP Ranch in southwest Duchesne County. The couple was abducted by Pinder and Ruiz at their Strawberry River home and taken to the ranch where they were shot and killed and later blown up with explosives. Their remains were buried, burned in a barrel, thrown in rivers and tossed in Dumpsters in Utah and Idaho.
Last summer Pinder was convicted of two counts of murder, a first-degree felony, by a Wasatch County jury. Pinder was given life with the possibility of parole by jurors who found him guilty of the double homicide. He is scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 6 on nine additional felony counts connected to the murders.
Ruiz had previously entered guilty pleas to the murders and testified against his former boss as part of a plea agreement. Ruiz is currently serving two concurrent terms of 5 years to life in the Utah State Prison.
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