John H. Sununu -- the former New Hampshire governor and White House chief of staff, not the former New Hampshire senator -- sued Philippine Airlines in 1998. Sununu claimed the airline had stiffed him and his partner, Victor H. Frank, Jr., out of some $513,00.

That suit lives on.

Friday, U.S. District Judge Henry H. Kennedy, Jr. kept alive part of the original claim filed by Sununu and Frank. While dismissing a breach-of-contract component, Judge Kennedy declined to dismiss the entire case.

The suit is most instructive, perhaps, for the light it sheds on the lobbying and influence-peddling strategic international consulting business. In brief, Sununu and Frank had signed on to help negotiate reduced lease payments for four aircraft that Philippines Airlines leased from World Airways. Sununu and Frank said they would use their "prestige, reputations and personal contacts," and contend they ultimately saved their client more than $12 million.

The case has been in the deep freezer for years because Philippines Airlines had gone into the equivalent of bankruptcy proceedings, from which it has recently emerged.