NATION IN BRIEF : NEW YORK : Victim Suits Begin in Pan Am Bombing

The first of scores of individual trials brought by families of the victims of the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 began in a process that could eventually assess multimillion-dollar damages against the bankrupt airline’s insurer. A federal jury has ruled that Pan Am was liable for the Dec. 21, 1988, bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland, which killed 270 people, 11 of them on the ground. The widow of Pepsico lawyer Robert Pagnucco, Judith Pagnucco, 51, of South Salem, N.Y., blinked back tears as she told of her husband’s 24-year career with the company and how he helped raise their four children.