UPDATE: Klein responds to lawsuit filed by Kunz Family.
UPDATE: 9/09/16 7:30 p.m.
Philip Klein issued this statement Friday evening about a civil suit filed against his firm and its investigation into the case of missing Deorr Kunz Jr.
This evening a reporter emailed our firm for comment regarding a civil suit filed against this firm in the Kunz case.
As of today we have not been served a copy of the formal complaint. We do not comment on pending litigation other than to say the truth is the Ultimate Defense.
Further a news reporter seemingly reported to the public that we have deleted comments from this FB site. We consider this an inaccurate statement as we have deleted nothing from our site. We thank the public for their support.
ORIGINAL STORY:
The parents and grandfather of missing toddler DeOrr Kunz Jr. filed a lawsuit against their former private investigator.
The suit against Klein Investigations and Consulting of Texas, was filed this week in Bonneville County.
The family fired the firm back in March.
The family alleges that Philip Klein breached his contract with DeOrr’s grandfather, Dennis Kunz.
The complaint said that Klein has an ethical duty to share information with his client and anyone his client authorized. The family said he didn’t do that. The lawsuit also said that some of those statements appeared on our newscasts.
The complaint outlines those statements. It highlights the comment Klein made back in March claiming that Jessica Mitchell knew her child was dead and knew where his body was.
Others include a Facebook question-and-answer session where Klein Investigations and Consulting posted that there was blood evidence on the father’s truck. It also references another post where the firm said the toddler was killed by blunt force. Those are both statements law enforcement has never confirmed. We tried to locate those Facebook posts but it appears they have since been removed.
The complaint said that this information called the reputations of Jessica Mitchell, Vernal Kunz and Dennis Kunz into question. It also claims that the firm’s false statements exposed them to public hatred, contempt, and ridicule.
The complaint is asking for the firm to pay for damages of more than $10,000. The family also believes Klein should forfeit the $20,000 he was paid to take the case. It also requests an injunction on the firm to stop making any further statements regarding the toddler’s disappearance.
You can find the full complaint here.
We spoke with Klein about the complaint. He said they haven’t seen the documents. We provided him a copy and are waiting for further comment.
DeOrr’s parents reported him missing on July 10, 2015. Since then, numerous searches have been conducted in Timber Creek Campground where they say they last saw him. However, law enforcement hasn’t found a trace of the missing boy.
The parents were named suspects by the Lemhi County sheriff, but no charges have been filed.
