Yellowknife (Sep 10/03) - A nine-year legal odyssey may soon be over for eight men named a civil suit stemming from the Giant Mine bombing.

Lawyers for the families of the nine men killed in the 1992 blast agreed to abandon the case against former union members Bill Schram, Robert Kosta, Harold David, James Mager, Conrad Lisoway, Wayne Campbell, Sylvain Amyotte and Edmund Savage.

According to a copy of the notice of discontinuance obtained by Yellowknifer, the plaintiffs agreed to drop the case so long as the eight men did not try and recover their court costs.

The notice also required the men to provide evidence at the civil trial.

An attorney for the defendants, Austin Marshall, couldn't say whether or not his clients would accept the offer to discontinue because the matter is still before the courts.

It could be the second time in two years that the men have been dropped from a list of defendants in the massive Giant Mine civil case.

In November 2001, a judge ruled that the men could not be included in the main suit because the statute of limitations had expired by the time they were formally served.

Lawyers for the plaintiffs launched a second civil suit naming the eight men as defendants along with the National Automobile, Aerospace, Transportation and General Workers of Canada local 2304, Buzz Hargrove and several other union members.

"I don't even know why they included us in the first place," said Mary Beth Levan, whose partner Bill Schram was a defendant in the suit.

Several of the men are still facing a third lawsuit filed by Jim O'Neil, a miner who discovered the bodies of the nine men killed by the blast.

"I'm cautiously optimistic," said Schram.

"This whole thing isn't over yet."

Schram estimates that he and his co-defendants have spent close to $400,000 on legal fees during the last nine years. He said most of that money came from union fund raising. "It hasn't been cheap," he said.

Lawyers for the plaintiffs wouldn't elaborate on why the case against the miners had been dropped.

"But rest assured, by the time this case gets to trial, all of those responsible will be there," said Jeffrey Champion.