Japan’s Supreme Court refuses damages to visually impaired couple over police entry

From The Sankei Shimbun

August 28 2026

KANAGAWA – The Supreme Court’s Third Petty Bench, presided over by Justice Masami Okino, has rejected an appeal by a visually impaired couple who sued Kanagawa Prefecture for damages, arguing that police officers who responded to an emergency call unlawfully entered their home without their consent. The decision was dated the 26th. The ruling by the Tokyo High Court, which had rejected the couple’s claim, is now final.

The High Court found that the couple had consented to the officers entering their home and overturned a March 2024 ruling by the Yokohama District Court, which had ordered the prefecture to pay the couple ¥275,000 in damages.

The District Court had ruled that it was unlawful for the police officers to enter the couple’s living quarters without first carefully confirming whether they had permission to do so. It also found that having a female police officer present while the husband, who is blind, was wearing only underwear constituted a failure to provide “reasonable accommodation” for a person with a disability and violated his personal rights.

However, in its October 2025 ruling, the High Court held that in order to receive reasonable accommodation, a person must express their wishes or indicate what assistance is needed. Since the couple had not done so in this case, the court concluded that the officers’ actions were not unlawful.

According to the ruling, police received an emergency 110 call reporting that someone was shouting inside an apartment building. Police officers went to the couple’s home late at night on October 9, 2019.