ID :
112439
Thu, 03/18/2010 - 22:16
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https://www.oananews.org//node/112439
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Gov`t to accept settlement for Minamata disease suit: Hatoyama+
TOKYO, March 18 Kyodo -
Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama said Thursday he has decided to accept a
court-brokered settlement plan for a damages suit filed by unrecognized
sufferers of Minamata mercury poisoning disease.
''When I think of the feelings of those who have suffered badly from Minamata
disease for a long time, I would like to accept the Kumamoto District Court's
settlement plan to achieve full relief for them,'' Hatoyama told reporters at
his office in the evening.
The prime minister added that he will also work to reach a similar conclusion
with other sufferers who have not joined the damages suit.
The move came after the district court proposed Monday that lump sums of 2.1
million yen and monthly medical allowances be paid to each of the unrecognized
sufferers, plus a 2.95 billion yen settlement for their group.
A settlement will be reached following the approval of the plan by the
plaintiffs, and financial relief will also be provided under a special law for
unrecognized sufferers of Minamata disease that took effect last July.
The court has given both the plaintiffs and the defendants until March 29 to
decide whether to accept its settlement plan, and the plaintiffs' group is
expected to make its decision on March 28.
Environment Minister Sakihito Ozawa said in a statement that the state
government will urge other defendants to accept the plan, while expressing
readiness to commence accepting applications for financial relief under the
special law by May 1, the anniversary of the official recognition of Minamata
disease in 1956.
The proposed settlement terms were presented during the fourth session of
court-mediated negotiations between 2,126 plaintiffs and the defendants -- the
central and Kumamoto prefectural governments as well as chemical maker Chisso
Corp. -- over a damages suit filed in 2005. A Chisso factory in the prefecture
released mercury-tainted water into the sea, causing the disease.
The monthly medical allowances suggested by the court amount to 12,900 yen for
people aged below 70, 15,900 yen for older people and 17,700 yen for people who
are hospitalized.
The terms also include setting up a third-party committee to determine who
should be covered.
==Kyodo
Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama said Thursday he has decided to accept a
court-brokered settlement plan for a damages suit filed by unrecognized
sufferers of Minamata mercury poisoning disease.
''When I think of the feelings of those who have suffered badly from Minamata
disease for a long time, I would like to accept the Kumamoto District Court's
settlement plan to achieve full relief for them,'' Hatoyama told reporters at
his office in the evening.
The prime minister added that he will also work to reach a similar conclusion
with other sufferers who have not joined the damages suit.
The move came after the district court proposed Monday that lump sums of 2.1
million yen and monthly medical allowances be paid to each of the unrecognized
sufferers, plus a 2.95 billion yen settlement for their group.
A settlement will be reached following the approval of the plan by the
plaintiffs, and financial relief will also be provided under a special law for
unrecognized sufferers of Minamata disease that took effect last July.
The court has given both the plaintiffs and the defendants until March 29 to
decide whether to accept its settlement plan, and the plaintiffs' group is
expected to make its decision on March 28.
Environment Minister Sakihito Ozawa said in a statement that the state
government will urge other defendants to accept the plan, while expressing
readiness to commence accepting applications for financial relief under the
special law by May 1, the anniversary of the official recognition of Minamata
disease in 1956.
The proposed settlement terms were presented during the fourth session of
court-mediated negotiations between 2,126 plaintiffs and the defendants -- the
central and Kumamoto prefectural governments as well as chemical maker Chisso
Corp. -- over a damages suit filed in 2005. A Chisso factory in the prefecture
released mercury-tainted water into the sea, causing the disease.
The monthly medical allowances suggested by the court amount to 12,900 yen for
people aged below 70, 15,900 yen for older people and 17,700 yen for people who
are hospitalized.
The terms also include setting up a third-party committee to determine who
should be covered.
==Kyodo
