The Japanese government is facing a Yen 450M ($2.57M) compensation bill after the Sapporo district court ruled in favour of families of seven of the 20 people killed when part of the Toyohama tunnel collapsed in February 1996. The cave-in, at Furubiracho on Hokkaido, trapped a bus and car.
The families claimed the collapse was caused by construction defects and poor maintenance, adding that officials exacerbated the problems by choosing the wrong location for the portals.
The government claimed there were no defects, although it admitted partial responsibility because it said more steps should have been taken to make people aware of emergency procedures. At the start of the trial in 1997, it offered to pay about Yen 300M ($1.71M) in compensation, although this was rejected by the families who originally demanded about Yen 640M ($3.65M). The families of the other 13 people killed have already accepted an out-of-court settlement.
Despite the court ruling, the government is now unable to claim damages against the contractors because the decision came just outside Japan’s five year statute of limitations.
