The Tokyo High Court on Friday proposed that seven automakers pay JPY1.2bn to hundreds of asthma patients to settle a decade-long court battle over air pollution caused by emissions from diesel-powered motor vehicles in Tokyo.
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Presiding Judge Toshiaki Harada gave the plaintiffs and defendants 10 days until 12 July to decide whether to accept the court-proposed compromise plan, Kyodo News said.
The amount of settlement money proposed by the high court compares with JPY500m yen the automakers earlier offered to pay.
The defendants in the damages suit are the central government, the Tokyo metropolitan government, the privatised Metropolitan Expressway and the seven automakers – Toyota Motor, Nissan Motor, Nissan Diesel Motor, Mitsubishi Motors, Hino Motors, Isuzu Motors and Mazda Motor.
The defendants other than the automakers have already agreed to settle the battle with about 630 plaintiffs.
Among changes made as a result of the suit were road layouts while the environment ministry proposed a plan to launch monitoring of particulate matter with a diameter of 2.5 micrometers or less.
The plaintiffs have indicated they will accept a medical subsidy programme and anti-pollution measures, leaving the amount of settlement money to be paid by the automakers the only issue to be unresolved.
Kyodo News said the plaintiffs filed the damages suit in six groups from 1996 to 2006, demanding that emissions of air pollutants be halted and that the defendants pay a total of JPY14.8bn.
In October 2002, the Tokyo District Court acknowledged that seven of the first group of 99 plaintiffs suffered asthma due to emissions from diesel vehicles and ordered the government bodies and road operators to pay a combined JPY79m.
But the district court turned down demands for damages from the seven automakers.
Both the plaintiffs and defendants appealed the decision to the Tokyo High court. Last September, the high court urged both parties to reach a compromise settlement, Kyodo News said.
