Condominium owners who were victims of the building safety scandal filed a damages suit Tuesday at the Tokyo District Court against architect Hidetsugu Aneha, the Kawasaki Municipal Government and other parties, seeking more than 600 million yen in compensation and rebuilding costs.
The suit is the first filed by condo residents over the scandal involving faked quake-resistance data for buildings. The residents of the Kawasaki complex argue in the suit that Aneha, 49, was responsible for fabricating structural calculation documents for the building and that the city of Kawasaki should be held liable for approving construction of the defective structure.
Also named as defendants are contractor Taihei Kogyo Co. and Space One design office.
After the condo was found to have only about 30 percent of required quake resistance, all its residents were forced to move out in May.
The Land, Infrastructure and Transport Ministry, which revealed the shoddy construction scam in November, has confirmed 98 cases of data fabrication by Aneha in buildings in Tokyo and 17 prefectures, including the Kawasaki high-rise.
Police on Monday turned over to prosecutors their case on Aneha's alleged quake-resistance data fraud for three condominium complexes and a hotel in Tokyo.
Now stripped of his architect's license, Aneha was indicted June 7 over two similar cases involving a condominium in Fujisawa, Kanagawa Prefecture, and a hotel in the city of Nara.