'Shocked' Fukushima evacuees say Tepco ruling fails to fairly compensate them for suffering
Rice planting for commercial sales begins at a paddy in Iitate in May 2017, for the first time since the disaster at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant in 2011.
A Tokyo court on Wednesday ordered the operator of the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant to pay a total of ¥21.34 million in damages to a group of evacuees from the March 2011 nuclear disaster.
But the ruling by the Tokyo District Court, which was the 11th such decision against Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc., came as a shock to the evacuees, who claim the court has neglected their suffering.
The lawsuit was filed in March 2012 by 42 former residents of Iitate, a village in Fukushima Prefecture, who claim their lives were affected by the Fukushima No.1 nuclear plant disaster in 2011. They were forced to evacuate from the prefecture due to evacuation orders that were only lifted later, in March 2017. They had sought a combined ¥1.68 billion from the utility for their psychological suffering.
Presiding Judge Tetsuro Nakayoshi awarded compensation to 13 of the 42 plaintiffs whose damages were deemed more severe. The plaintiffs in general have been already compensated by the nuclear plant operator and had already found new homes, the court concluded. Only one pair was awarded the highest amount, of more than ¥3 million in damages, due to illness and required nursing care.
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2019/03/27/business/corporate-business/shocked-fukushima-evacuees-say-tepco-ruling-fails-fairly-compensate-suffering/?fbclid=IwAR0b30UfUPglQMI2dVOhOMp2Hz0mZhLl5s8gpmqTBGVYAyCc4f0c5_u-5_o#.XJt4bYpMGhA
March 31, 2019 - Posted by	dunrenard | fukushima 2019	| Court Decision, Evacuees compensation, Tokyo