California IN BRIEF : SANTA CLARA : Student Pilot Settles for $31 Million

A former Silicon Valley executive, who was burned and maimed in a 1987 single-engine plane crash, has won a $31-million settlement from makers of the aircraft that crashed on the San Diego Freeway. The attorney for Dennis Paboojian said the award would be paid immediately and is the largest settlement ever negotiated in a lawsuit of its kind. Paboojian lost his left forearm and fingers on his right hand. Paboojian had been flying the Piper Malibu PA-46 when it began to have engine trouble, but turned the controls over to flying instructor John Spiesman, who was killed in the Nov. 29, 1987, crash in Long Beach. Paboojian, 47, of Cupertino, is the former president of Rolm Corp. The settlement was ratified in Santa Clara County Superior Court. Alabama-based Teledyne Continental Motors, which built the Piper’s engine, will pay $20 million. The rest will come from the remaining defendants.