Jon Rudolph will have the chance to recoup almost $5 million after the loss of one of his companies, a judge has ruled.

Rudolph, the owner of Golden Hill Ventures, used to own Ross Mining Ltd., but was forced to return the company to its original owner, Norman Ross, last summer after defaulting on a $1-million payment.

A month later, Rudolph put a lien on Ross Mining. Golden Hill Ventures had loaned the mining company $4,713,543, according to the lien documents.

The two companies were both owned by Rudolph at the time the loan was made, but are separate legal and financial entities.

Two months later, Rudolph filed an amended claim, raising the amount to $6,790,456.

The two parties were in court on Dec. 9, with Norm Ross' lawyer, Murray Leitch, arguing that Rudolph has no claim to the company because Golden Hill was not party to the original purchase agreement.

He said the claim was bound to fail, so should be struck down.

But Yukon Supreme Court Justice Ron Veale disagreed.

The judge found there was enough evidence filed to go to trial, and it was not his job to weigh the evidence at this point in the proceedings, only to decide whether there is a case to be made.

He did however, dismiss the amended claim because it came too late, leaving Rudolph to pursue the $4,713,543 claim.

See lengthy letter by Rudolph in tomorrow's Christmas Eve edition of the Star.