Aerojet-General Corp. has agreed to pay a $25 million settlement after a jury found the defense contractor responsible for the deaths of three former Rancho Cordova residents and the illnesses of four others who drank tap water contaminated with rocket fuel. Aerojet officials, faced with possible punitive damages, agreed to settle the case for an additional $11 million bringing the total to $25 million. The jury found Aerojet “was negligent with respect to its operations, chemical handling, treatment and/or disposal process” of toxic chemicals. The jury found Aerojet’s negligence “was a substantial factor” causing thyroid disease in the four surviving plaintiffs and in causing the deaths of three others from lymphoma, a cancer of the blood, and melanoma, a skin cancer, according to the verdict.