A court ordered the government and the operator of the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant Tuesday to pay a combined ¥52.9 million ($513,000) in damages to 89 people who evacuated from their hometowns to Hokkaido after the 2011 nuclear disaster.
The Sapporo District Court ruling marked the seventh case where both the government and Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. were ordered to pay damages, out of 11 cases brought against the two parties. In the four other cases, only Tepco was ordered to pay damages.
It was also the 15th decision handed down among around 30 similar damages suits filed across Japan over one of the world's worst nuclear disasters, which were triggered by the massive earthquake and tsunami in March 2011.