A district court on Monday dismissed a damages suit filed against a municipal government in Saitama Prefecture by a woman who claimed her son committed suicide because school officials failed to intervene when he was bullied.
Chiyo Hosoi, 51, filed the suit against the Gyoda municipal government, demanding 180 million yen in compensation for the death of her son Kazutaka, 14, who hanged himself at his home Jan. 9, 1996.
In handing down the ruling, Presiding Judge Akio Ishizuka said: "It is undeniable that the boy had been bullied, but the court cannot recognize that the bullying was the cause of his death."
According to the ruling, Kazutaka, who was a second-year student at a junior high school at the time of his death, had been punched and taunted by several classmates since he was a first-year student; he did not leave a suicide note.
Immediately prior to his suicide, several of the boy's classmates came to his home and took money from him, the ruling said.
Hosoi filed the suit in July 1996, claiming that school officials were responsible for her son's death because they failed in their duties to protect and control their students. Hosoi said she will appeal to a higher court.