TOP Contents of the Trial Testimonies Contact

  The first day of the appeal court   

Opening of the court: 10am 14 December 2018 at the Osaka High Court

  Japanese
  • Reading out a statement by a plaintiff: 5minutes
  • Pleadings by lawyers for the plaintiffs (evacuees) and defendant's lawyers (for the Government), 40minutes each
  • Submission of documents by TEPCO
This trial is a class action suit for damages against the Japanese government and TEPCO (Tokyo Electric Power Co) by evacuees from Fukushima and the Tohoku and Kanto regions consisting of 175 people from 58 households. The plaintiffs have evacuated to escape from radiation released by the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear disaster of March 2011.

The Damages Suit of The Fukushima Nuclear Disaster, Kyoto was filed on the 17th September 2013, and received a judgement on the 15th March 2018. The judicial decision was positive and was a form of progress, because the right of some people to evacuate from outside the area of the Government Interim Guidelines was confirmed. However the validity of some plaintiffs' evacuation was rejected. We also cannot accept the incredibly low amount for compensation. The defendants (The Japanese Government and TEPCO) appealed, therefore all the plaintiffs have also decided to appeal. The appeal court will start at the Osaka High Court from December 2018. Please follow it's progress, listen and come to our trial.

Message from one of plaintiffs, Yukimi Hagiwara:

Thank you so much for supporting our court case. The Kyoto district judgment was a partial win, and the responsibilities of the Government and TEPCO were clearly accepted. Also, the areas from which evacuation is accepted were expanded to include Aizu, Chiba, Ibaraki and Tochigi. Nevertheless, only two years was designated as the term for evacuation. Sadly the judge didn't recognise the actual damage to our lives, so that the compensation was very small, and some plaintiffs' claims were rejected completely. We cannot accept this, so we have also decided to appeal.

Our individual evidence and real losses will be shown at the high court. We will show substantial evidence for the amount of radioactive materials from 2011 to now and that evacuation was necessary even to avoid low-dose radiation. We hope that our victory will help all victims. We will work very hard with our supporters and lawyers. Please continue to support us.

Message from a lawyer, Mr Yasuo Tanabe

The appeal at the high court will concentrate on expanding the redress for harm done and to increase the amount of compensation for loss.

The Kyoto judge decided that the LNT model (The linear no-threshold model) hasn't been proved scientifically. But proof of the LNT model and the rightfulness of evacuation are not related. This mistake will be pointed out at the High Court.

Moreover, we have requested the cooperation of Mr Tsujiuchi to make clear the actual damages caused. He has cooperated with the Tokyo trial already. We will also will get the help of an economist regarding the fair evaluation of damages.

The Government submitted enormous amount of evidence. As a result, they insisted that the nuclear disaster was impossible to avoid. We must oppose them. We appreciate your support.

Page top
Copyright (C) 2017 Support group for plaintiffs and the Nuclear Power Plant Lawsuit for Compensation in Kyoto All Rights Reserved.