NORFOLK, Va. - A federal judge on Tuesday rejected the government of Sudan's request to dismiss a lawsuit filed against it by relatives of the 17 sailors killed in the terrorist bombing of the USS Cole.

U.S. District Judge Robert G. Doumar also said he was inclined to apply the Death on the High Seas Act to the lawsuit, which could reduce potential damages from $105 million to no more than $35 million.

The act limits compensation to economic losses, said Andrew C. Hall, an attorney for the families. The higher figure sought by the families includes damages for pain and suffering of the 59 spouses, parents and children of the bombing victims.

Kevin Rux, a native of Portland, N.D., was among those killed in the attack.

"The amount of money … has never really been the issue," Hall said after Tuesday's pretrial hearing. "They'd trade all the money in the world to have their sailors back."

The lawsuit, set for trial March 13, alleges that Sudan's government provided financial and training support to al-Qaida, including the militants who planned the attack on the Norfolk-based Navy destroyer while it was in the port of Aden, Yemen, on Oct. 12, 2000.

Doumar also had to consider which laws apply from which country: the United States, Sudan or Yemen. He said he thought U.S. law applies because a U.S. ship was attacked.

"It does appear that the Death on the High Seas Act is an exclusive remedy," Doumar said, without offering details.

Sudan's request to dismiss was based in part on the argument that the lawsuit was filed after the act's three-year statute of limitations. Hall said outside court that the statute is 10 years if a foreign sovereign is involved.