Q & As about evacuees lawsuits

 May 19, 2014

News Navigator: What's the latest on Fukushima evacuees' lawsuits?

http://mainichi.jp/english/english/perspectives/news/20140519p2a00m0na002000c.html 

The Mainichi answers common questions readers may have about the spate of lawsuits filed by residents who have evacuated their hometowns due to the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant disaster.

Question: I've heard that there's a rising number of lawsuits filed by evacuees from the Fukushima nuclear disaster. Is that right?

Answer: Yes, a series of lawsuits have been filed with 17 district courts and their branches across the country. As of April, there were a total of 6,808 plaintiffs in those cases. Among them, about 2,700 are evacuees to outside Fukushima Prefecture.

According to the Zenkoku Kogai Bengodan Renraku Kaigi (National liaison council of defense counsels for pollution lawsuits), which is a group of lawyers involved in pollution and drug disaster lawsuits, the number of plaintiffs in the nuclear evacuees' lawsuits is the third highest in the country, following that in the Kadena Air Base noise damage suit at 22,058 and the Naval Air Facility Atsugi noise damage suit at 7,054.

Q: What's the contentious point in the evacuees' lawsuits?

A: At the Iwaki branch of the Fukushima District Court, a group of lawyers representing Fukushima nuclear evacuees are calling on the court to conduct on-site verifications within the evacuation area because they want judges to have firsthand knowledge of the realities of the nuclear disaster. The Iwaki branch of the court, however, has withheld from giving an answer.

According to the liaison council, on-site verifications by courts at an early stage led plaintiffs to win lawsuits or compensation in not only the four major pollution cases including the Kumamoto Minamata disease case but also in the U.S. air base noise pollution cases.

"The court may be giving consideration to repercussions for trials filed at other district courts, but the nuclear disaster is the largest- and worst-ever pollution case," said Toshitaka Onodera, one of the defense lawyers for the Fukushima evacuees' lawsuit. "I hope the court will conduct on-site verifications at an early date."

Q: Is the number of plaintiffs in evacuees' lawsuits set to increase further?

A: Preparations are underway to file similar lawsuits in Ibaraki, Hiroshima, Fukuoka and other prefectures. At the moment, there are 133,000 Fukushima Prefecture residents who have evacuated their hometowns, of which 48,000 have evacuated outside the prefecture, so the number of plaintiffs is likely to increase. (Answers by Shinichi Kurita, Iwaki Bureau)

May 19, 2014(Mainichi Japan)