By Laurie Asseo
Associated Press Writer
Friday, June 26, 1998; 11:14 a.m. EDT

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court today gave 16 women who won a sex-harassment and discrimination lawsuit against a Minnesota mine company a chance to boost the amount of monetary damages they collect.

The court, without comment, turned down a request by Eveleth Mines' former part-owner to reinstate a $182,500 damage award. A federal appeals court had thrown out the award, saying a court official unlawfully excluded expert testimony about the victims' emotional harm.

A federal judge ruled in 1993 that female workers were sexually harassed at Eveleth Mines' iron mine in northeastern Minnesota, and that the company failed to consider them equally for promotions.

The 16 women invoked a state human rights law in seeking damages to compensate for their mental anguish and to punish the company for its misconduct.

A judge in 1996 adopted a special master's recommendation to give the women individual damage awards ranging from $2,500 to $25,000 and totaling $182,500.

The women appealed, saying the awards were inadequate. The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed last December and ordered the judge to reconsider the amount.

The special master had abused his discretion by improperly refusing to consider expert medical testimony offered on behalf of the women to show the cause of their emotional harm, the appeals court ruled.

The master relied on his own ``preconceived notions'' in saying experts ``know almost nothing'' and also improperly required the women to prove the harm could not have been caused by other factors, the appeals court added.

In the appeal acted on today, lawyers for Oglebay Norton Co., the mine's Cleveland-based former part-owner and manager, said the appeals court should have deferred to the trial judge's ruling on which expert testimony to allow.

The case is Oglebay Norton Co. vs. Jenson, 97-1765.