A higher court Thursday upheld a lower court ruling that determined a legal provision that allows only men to file lawsuits denying legal paternity was constitutional, dismissing a damages suit filed by a family against the state.
The plaintiffs in the ¥2.2 million ($19,700) lawsuit — a woman in her 60s living in Kobe, her daughter in her 30s and her 4- and 8-year-old grandchildren — argued that the Civil Code provision that allows only men to deny legal paternity is discriminatory and unconstitutional.
According to the suit, the woman lived apart from her husband due to domestic violence and had a baby with a different man before their divorce was finalized. She opted not to notify authorities of the birth — required under the Civil Code — as it would have been "presumed" that the abusive husband was the biological father.