[JURIST] US mining executive Richard Ness [defense website], the regional chief executive of Denver-based Newmont Mining Corporation [corporate website; JURIST news archive], filed a civil lawsuit [statement] against the New York Times (NYT) [media website] in Indonesia Wednesday. Last month Ness and Newmont were acquitted [JURIST report] by an Indonesian court of criminal pollution charges [JURIST report] that the now-closed mine had dumped dangerous elements into Indonesia's Buyat Bay. Ness' suit stems from a front page article [text] in the Times which Ness says convicted him in "the court of public opinion." Ness is seeking unspecified monetary damages and an apology from the paper. Although Indonesian prosecutors are pursuing appeal of the Indonesian ruling [JURIST report], the majority of tests at trial found the pollution concentrations in the Indonesian bay to be within normal levels.

In a statement, the NYT said that it plans to defend the suit "vigorously" and stood behind the story as accurate and fair. AP has more.