Some Plaintiffs Recognized as Minamata Disease Patients

   Kumamoto, March 22 (Jiji Press)--A Japanese district court on Friday recognized 25 of 144 plaintiffs who were excluded from a 2009 special relief program for Minamata disease as patients of the disease caused by mercury-tainted industrial wastewater from a plant in the southwestern prefecture of Kumamoto.
   The plaintiffs had sued the central government, the Kumamoto prefectural government and Chisso Corp., the owner of the plant in the city of Minamata, claiming that they were unfairly excluded from the relief program due mainly to their places of residence and demanding 4.5 million yen per person in damages.
   Hideki Shinagawa, presiding judge at Kumamoto District Court, dismissed the plaintiffs' damages claims, saying the 20-year statute of limitations for damages claims had expired for the case.
   The 144 plaintiffs are people in their 50s to 90s, who lived in coastal areas facing the Yatsushiro Sea in Kumamoto and Kagoshima prefectures. They filed the lawsuits in June and September in 2013.
   Nearly 1,800 people have filed similar lawsuits across Japan, including 1,400 with the Kumamoto court. Friday's ruling is the second verdict in such lawsuits after Osaka District Court last September recognized all plaintiffs as Minamata disease sufferers and ordered the central government and others to pay compensation.

(2024/03/22-13:49)

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