AEROSPACE

Hughes Loses Round in Court: A lawsuit filed by former Hughes Aircraft patent attorney Anthony W. Karambelas against Hughes was ordered reinstated by the U.S. 9th Circuit Court, which ruled that a federal judge had no jurisdiction to dismiss the case. Karambelas charged he was made a scapegoat and fired for a legal settlement that caused Hughes, a General Motors subsidiary, to potentially lose millions of dollars in a huge patent case against the U.S. government. The legal settlement, which occurred in a related settlement with the former Ford Aerospace, was drafted by the lawyers at Latham & Watkins and approved by former Hughes General Counsel Richard Alden, Karambelas alleged. Karambelas sued Hughes in Superior Court, but GM lawyers succeeded in moving the case to federal court, where Judge Manuel Real quickly dismissed it. The appeals panel said the case should never have been moved to federal court.