Rockwell to Appeal Damage Award

Rockwell International Corp. said over the weekend that it will appeal a jury ruling in Kentucky ordering it to pay $218 million in damages for the discharge of chemicals by a plant formerly owned by the company. The court award, $210 million in punitive and $8 million in compensatory damages, arose from a civil suit brought by landowners in Russellville, Ky., whose property was said to be affected by polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, before 1974. William Calise, senior vice president and general counsel for the Seal Beach-based firm, said he expects the punitive damages portion of the award to be overturned, since the state law requires proof of malice and no evidence of malice was offered at the trial.