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An agreement for Utah investor Paul Huntsman to buy The Salt Lake Tribune got its first vetting Monday by a room full of lawyers.

Attorneys for The Tribune and Deseret News met in downtown Salt Lake City with representatives of Citizens for Two Voices, the grass-roots group suing both dailies over their business dealings.

The group's attorney, Karra Porter, called the meeting "productive" but said participants did not reach any final conclusions.

Made up of former Tribune employees and community members, Citizens for Two Voices is studying documents on the proposed sale, Porter said, along with other "preliminary" details.

Further discussions are upcoming, she said, and all sides are working to have outstanding issues resolved by mid-May.

"We still have some questions that need to be answered," said Porter, who declined to elaborate further.

Lawyers for Kearns-Tribune, The Tribune's parent company, and the LDS Church-owned News did not respond Monday to inquiries seeking comment.

Huntsman, son of Utah industrialist-philanthropist Jon Huntsman Sr., announced last week he had entered into an agreement to buy The Tribune from its current owner, New York-based Digital First Media.

Paul Huntsman, who runs his family's private-equity investment fund, has declined to offer details until the deal is completed.

Parties to the negotiations say a final sale hinges on making legal entanglements involving the newspapers go away — namely, the Citizens for Two Voices' lawsuit and a separate probe by antitrust attorneys at the Department of Justice.

The suit and DOJ investigation have focused on a rejiggered partnership contract struck between The Tribune and the News in fall 2013.

Critics contend the pact — negotiated by The Tribune's corporate owners and executives at the News, without Tribune managers' involvement — violated antitrust laws and put The Tribune at such a financial disadvantage that it endangers the paper's survival.

Citizens for Two Voices has sued in U.S. District Court to have the accord thrown out, including provisions that cut in half The Tribune's revenues from the newspapers' shared operations.

Porter declined Monday to comment on whether issues targeted in the group's lawsuit, particularly the papers' cash split, were slated to be undone or changed as part of a Huntsman purchase.

She also said she was in contact with DOJ lawyers, who are reviewing details of the planned purchase.

Twwitter: @TonySemerad