Undisclosed settlement reached at Nagoya High Court over death of a disabled man

Written with extracts from NHK

August 19th 2019

AICHI – A settlement was reached on August 19th regarding an incident where a man who had a severe intellectual disability left a support facility for the disabled and died. It was the second trial concerning the incident to be heard at the Nagoya High Court.

Six years ago. Hayato Tsuruta ( who 28 at that time), was at a facility for people with disabilities in Anjo City, Aichi Prefecture, went out by an open door, which was usually locked. He later died

The corporation that operates the facility offered a payment of 18 million yen, but the bereaved family said, “..there is a difference in the amount of compensation between the healthy person and the disabled person…I am against it,” and was seeking compensation of more than 72 million yen, the same amount as a healthy person.

However, the Nagoya District Court in the first trial in February dismissed the bereaved family’s complaint, on the grounds that there was no negligence on the part of the facility, so no judgment was made regarding the amount of compensation.

A settlement was reached on August 19th at the Nagoya High Court in a second trial. According to the defense team, the facility must apologize  the bereaved family, implement measures to prevent recurrence, and pay the settlement money to the bereaved family.

The settlement amount was not disclosed in the settlement arrangement, but the defense team recognizes that “the settlement has recognized a certain amount of lost profit that could have been expected to be obtained in the future. I think we have taken a step closer to the realization of equality of life. “