Van Nuys Firm Loses Big Award: A...

Van Nuys Firm Loses Big Award: A jury that ordered General Electric Co. to pay $70.8 million to a tiny Van Nuys firm was overruled by a Superior Court judge, who slashed the award to $9.8 million. The firm, American Aviation Industries, is now effectively in the hole because the jury in July also had ordered AAI to repay GE about $14 million, and that part of the case was upheld by Judge Stephen D. Petersen, said Bert Cooper, a lawyer for GE. The companies sued each other over a failed venture in which they planned to retrofit Lockheed corporate jets with GE-made engines.