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re: slater and gordon some history SYDNEY, Australia -- The Solomon Islands Court of Appeal has ordered the Australian law firm of Slater & Gordon to pay Ross Mining NL, which has been acquired by Delta Gold Ltd., unspecified damages and costs for "civil conspiracy, abuse of process, champerty and maintenance."

Ross Mining, which owned and operated the currently suspended Gold Ridge Mine in the Solomon Islands, had alleged that for the past three years Slater & Gordon, well known for championing controversial issues and for taking on big business, had "unlawfully conspired to run a campaign of environmental and other litigation, in the Solomon Islands against Ross Mining."

The company claimed that the law firm applied unlawful pressure, through local landowners and others, in a bid to force Ross Mining to abandon the Gold Ridge project.

Delta Gold's managing director, Terry Burgess, said that the litigation campaign against the Gold Ridge Mine had been a drain on the management and resources of Ross Mining for some years.

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"The company has always maintained that it was the victim of a conspiracy and that the allegations of environmental damage and inadequate compensation were made for an improper purpose," he said. The amount of damages and costs had yet to be assessed by the court, he added, but the amount to be recovered was, expected to be "significant."

Burgess said that there was no avenue of appeal against the Court of Appeal's decision

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COPYRIGHT 2000 Gale Group