A high court on Monday overturned a lower-court ruling and denied damages to chronic hepatitis B sufferers who contracted the illness in a state-run vaccination program and had relapses.
The focus of the trial at the Fukuoka High Court had been on when the 20-year countdown for claims under the Civil Code begins, as the two male plaintiffs sued the state more than 20 years after they first developed symptoms.
The Fukuoka District Court in 2017 ordered the state to pay ¥12.5 million in damages to each of the men, deeming their relapses in 2004 and 2008 "new damage" the plaintiffs suffered and that they should, therefore, receive compensation.