Lawyers for The Cincinnati Enquirer asked a judge Friday to throw out a lawsuit that accuses the newspaper of revealing the identity of a confidential source.

        A Salt Lake City lawyer, George Ventura, sued the newspaper two years ago, claiming the Enquirer broke a promise to protect his identity and exposed him to criminal prosecution.

        Mr. Ventura said he provided information for articles the paper published in 1998 about Chiquita Brands International Inc.

        But the newspaper argued Friday that evidence taken in the case shows that Mr. Ventura became the target of a criminal investigation because of his own actions, not because of the actions of the Enquirer.

        In court documents filed Friday, the newspaper's lawyers claimed the paper did not give prosecutors any information or notes that would reveal Mr. Ventura as a confidential source.

        The prosecutors were investigating how an Enquirer reporter, later fired, obtained access to recordings from the voice-mail boxes of Chiquita executives.

        Enquirer lawyers argue that all evidence in the case shows that Chiquita suspected Mr. Ventura's involvement almost immediately.

        They say Mr. Ventura, a former lawyer for the company, had improperly accessed the company's voice-mail on previous occasions and also had threatened to publicly embarrass the company.

        The newspaper claims Mr. Ventura told former Enquirer reporter Michael Gallagher how to tap into the voice-mail system. The paper later fired Mr. Gallagher after learning he had accessed the voice mails. The paper said Mr. Gallagher had lied to his editors about how he obtained the voice-mail recordings.

        “Ventura enlisted Enquirer reporter Gallagher into a criminal scheme whereby they both hacked into the Chiquita voice-mail system and stole information from it,” the newspaper's lawyers stated in court documents Friday.

        They said prosecutors focused on Mr. Ventura because of information from Mr. Gallagher and from Chiquita officials, not from the newspaper.

        Mr. Gallagher pleaded guilty to illegally gaining access to Chiquita's voice-mail system. Mr. Ventura pleaded no contest to four misdemeanor charges and was sentenced to probation.

        Mr. Ventura's lawyers declined comment because they had not seen the newspaper's claims. In the past, however, they have repeatedly accused the paper of revealing Mr. Ventura's identity.

        Less than two months after the Chiquita articles were published, the newspaper renounced them, publicly apologized and paid the company more than $10 million.

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