Seven makers of diesel cars have informally offered to settle out of court with asthma sufferers in Tokyo, but the plaintiffs say they are not ready to accept the payments because the amount offered is too small, the plaintiffs' lawyers and the manufacturers said Monday.
The proposed amount is less than 1 million yen per plaintiff, compared with the standard in past air pollution cases of around 5 million yen to 7 million yen, according to Takao Nishimura, one of the lawyers. The total amount is estimated to be in the range of several hundred million yen.
"More than 1 billion yen would be needed to cover lawsuit expenses paid so far as well as outlays for a consultation body to be set up based on compensation, leaving nothing in payout to the plaintiffs," Nishimura said.