(Update) In Legal First, Court Awards ¥43 million ‘Lost Earning’ to Parents of Hearing Impaired Daughter

By Barrier Free Japan, Jiji via The Japan Times

January 21 2025

OSAKA – In a lawsuit concerning the death of Ayuka Ide (then aged 11), who was born with a hearing impairment, and who was hit by a piece of heavy machinery seven years ago, the Osaka High Court changed the ruling of the first trial and allowed the payment of the same amount as a healthy person in the appeal trial judgment on the calculation of ‘lost earnings’ that could have been earned in the future. Although the lost earnings of disabled children have been reduced to a certain extent, it is unusual for a judicial decision to recognise the same amount. The high court judgement determined that Ayuka Ide ‘was able to work in the same workplace as able-bodied people’.

The court ordered the payment of about ¥43 million (around $227,000), equivalent to that of a nondisabled person, stating that there was “no reason to reduce the amount from the average of all workers” on lost earnings that the victim would have been able to earn in the future. The family had sought ¥61 million.

Initially, the Osaka District Court had calculated the lost earnings at 85% of the average wage and limited the compensation to around ¥37 million.

The high court presiding judge Yumiko Tokuoka pointed out that although Ide had hearing loss in both ears, she could understand normal conversations using a hearing aid.

“Even with a hearing impairment, she could demonstrate abilities not inferior to those of people without hearing impairments,” she said.

The judge also reasoned that with the establishment of laws such as an Act targeting discrimination against individuals with disabilities, as well as technological advancements such as voice recognition applications, it could be predicted that the victim would have been able to work under the same conditions as hearing individuals after graduating from a specialist school or university.

In a news conference after the ruling, her father, Tsutomu, shed a tear, saying a “miracle has happened.”

“It goes without saying for me that future lost earnings are recognized 100% without any reduction based on the average wage of all workers,” he said. “I’ve continued to argue throughout the trial that to reduce the amount on the basis that a person has a disability is discrimination.”

Her mother Satsumi also said she was happy the judge recognized how hard her daughter worked for 11 years.

The lawyers of the driver and his employer reportedly declined to comment on the ruling.