Latest news with #TsunehisaKatsumata
Japan Times
4 days ago
- Politics
- Japan Times
High court overturns ruling against ex-Tepco executives
Tokyo High Court on Friday overturned a lower court ruling that ordered four former Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings (Tepco) executives to pay about ¥13 trillion in damages in total over the March 2011 nuclear disaster in Fukushima Prefecture. Toshikazu Kino, presiding judge at the high court, found the executives unable to predict the tsunami that triggered the triple reactor meltdown at Tepco's Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant. In their lawsuit filed in March 2012, Tepco shareholders demanded that five former executives pay some ¥23 trillion in damages to the company over the nuclear accident. In July 2022, Tokyo District Court ordered former Tepco Chairman Tsunehisa Katsumata, who died in October last year, former President Masataka Shimizu, 80, and former executive vice presidents Ichiro Takekuro, 79, and Sakae Muto, 74, to pay a total of ¥13,321 billion in compensation to the company. The ruling said that the executives had been able to predict the tsunami. In a separate criminal trial of Katsumata, Takekuro and Muto for their alleged professional negligence resulting in death and injury over the nuclear accident, the ruling that acquitted them became final in March this year. In 2008, Tepco estimated a tsunami with a height of up to 15.7 meters, exceeding the height of the nuclear plant site, based on a long-term evaluation by a government-backed research institute that predicted that a magnitude 8-class, tsunami-causing earthquake could strike off the coast of eastern Japan. Hearings on the shareholders' lawsuit focused on the credibility of the long-term evaluation and whether the nuclear disaster could have been prevented by measures against flooding. The shareholders argued that the incident could have been avoided if a measure had been taken to prevent flooding of facilities at the nuclear plant. The former executives claimed that the long-term evaluation had no scientific credibility and that the accident could not have been avoided even if such a measure had been put in place because the size of the tsunami was very large. In its 2022 ruling, the district court acknowledged the reliability of the long-term evaluation and pointed out that the former executives neglected to instruct staff to take tsunami countermeasures even though the accident could have been avoided if they did so. The district court recognized the liability of the four former executives, excluding Akio Komori, a 72-year-old former managing executive officer, who learned of Tepco's tsunami estimate eight months before the disaster. In its Friday ruling, Kino, the high court presiding judge, said the long-term evaluation was not sufficient to obligate the former executives to instruct staff to act promptly in preparation for a possible massive tsunami.
Kyodo News
4 days ago
- Business
- Kyodo News
Court rejects Fukushima crisis damages order against ex-TEPCO execs
KYODO NEWS - 20 minutes ago - 11:23 | All, Japan A Japanese high court on Friday overturned a ruling ordering former executives of Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. to pay the utility damages for failing to prevent the 2011 crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. The decision by the Tokyo High Court came after a district court ordered the former executives in July 2022 to pay around 13 trillion yen ($90 billion) in compensation. Both the defendants and shareholders seeking the damages had appealed the ruling. The district court found the four former executives liable for compensation after the combined impact of a massive earthquake and tsunami on the plant in northeastern Japan in March 2011 caused one of the worst nuclear disasters in history. The focal point of the appeal trial was whether the management's decisions on tsunami countermeasures were appropriate after a TEPCO unit estimated in 2008 that a tsunami of up to 15.7 meters could hit the plant based on the government's long-term earthquake assessment made public in 2002. The district court found the late former Chairman Tsunehisa Katsumata, former President Masataka Shimizu, and former Vice Presidents Sakae Muto and Ichiro Takekuro liable for damages. Katsumata's lawsuit was taken over by his heir. The acquittals of Takekuro and Muto in a criminal suit were finalized in March. Charges against Katsumata were dismissed after his death last October. Related coverage: 2nd melted fuel sample retrieved from crippled Fukushima reactor 1st dismantling of nuclear reactor begins in central Japan Japan court denies request to revoke extension of aging nuclear units
The Mainichi
4 days ago
- Business
- The Mainichi
Court rejects Fukushima crisis damages order against ex-TEPCO execs
TOKYO (Kyodo) -- A Japanese high court on Friday overturned a ruling ordering former executives of Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. to pay the utility damages for failing to prevent the 2011 crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. The decision by the Tokyo High Court came after a district court ordered the former executives in July 2022 to pay around 13 trillion yen ($90 billion) in compensation. Both the defendants and shareholders seeking the damages had appealed the ruling. The district court found the four former executives liable for compensation after the combined impact of a massive earthquake and tsunami on the plant in northeastern Japan in March 2011 caused one of the worst nuclear disasters in history. The focal point of the appeal trial was whether the management's decisions on tsunami countermeasures were appropriate after a TEPCO unit estimated in 2008 that a tsunami of up to 15.7 meters could hit the plant based on the government's long-term earthquake assessment made public in 2002. The district court found the late former Chairman Tsunehisa Katsumata, former President Masataka Shimizu, and former Vice Presidents Sakae Muto and Ichiro Takekuro liable for damages. Katsumata's lawsuit was taken over by his heir. The acquittals of Takekuro and Muto in a criminal suit were finalized in March. Charges against Katsumata were dismissed after his death last October.
