Japan top court: Govt not responsible for Fukushima disaster

By MARI YAMAGUCHI
Associated Press

TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s top court has ruled that the government was not liable for the 2011 Fukushima nuclear crisis, dismissing thousands of evacuees’ demands that the state, not just the utility, pay compensation for the damages inflicted to their lives. Friday’s ruling was the first Supreme Court decision on the government responsibility for the Fukushima disaster in four compensation lawsuits filed by about 3,700 Fukushima residents. The four-judge bench said that the government could not be held liable for the disaster because damage from the tsunami of that magnitude could not have been prevented even if the industry minister had used his regulatory authority and ordered the utility to enhance a seawall based on a tsunami estimate at that time.