Civil Lawsuit Over Death of Deaf Girl in Osaka Raises Questions About the Value of a Life

By Barrier Free Japan

March 1 2023

OSAKA – In November 2022, hearings for a damages lawsuit after a girl with impaired hearing was killed in a traffic accident in 2018, estimating lost wages have become a key point of contention.

Five years ago in 2018, an excavator plowed into a sidewalk in Ikuno Ward, Osaka, killing Ayuka Ide (then 11), a student at a nearby hearing support school.

The Osaka District Court ruled on February 27th that the defendant pay approximately 37.7 million yen. This amount – 85% of the average wage – it was ruled, was the amount Ayuka Ide might have earned in the future as Ayuka Ide was able to “use various means and techniques to reduce the impact of her hearing impairment.”

The trial was concerned with how to calculate “lost earnings,” the estimated future earnings that Ayuka was expected to have earned.

At first, the defendant – the driver and his company – claimed that 40% of the average wage for female workers was the expected future earnings, on the grounds that “it is difficult for hearing-impaired people to find employment.

Later, they retracted this claim and demanded that the amount of compensation be calculated based on the average wage of hearing-impaired workers, which is 60% of the average wage of all workers.

In response, the bereaved family members demanded that the compensation be calculated based on the average wage of all workers, arguing that the average wage of the hearing-impaired was formed when their activities were restricted, and that in recent years many disabled people have been working actively due to changes in social awareness and technological advances.

Before the ruling, Ayuka Ide’s parents said, “We hope the court will make a decision that fits the current situation, without being bound by past precedents.”

Her mother, Satsumi, looking at a study handout from the day before she passed away, said, “It’s like a proof that she worked hard on her studies and homework. I think once again that she was a serious and hardworking person,” she recalled.

Her father Tsutomu said, “She would talk to an uncle with a dog and ask him to walk the dog, and she would talk to people who wore hearing aids, even if she had never met them before, saying “I’m a friend.”

Her parents complained that this was unfair discrimination against the disabled, and submitted some 110,000 signatures to the court demanding a ruling without discrimination.

Satsumi said, “As the mother who has watched her grow up, I can’t allow it. I would like you to apologize for denying Ayuka 11 years of life”.

Tsutomu said, “My daughter had a lot of potential. With the advancement of technology, the environment surrounding the hearing impaired is changing, and I hope that the court will not be bound by past precedents and make a decision that fits the current situation.”