The top court Monday ruled in favor of around 500 plaintiffs in four suits seeking damages from the state over diseases contracted by construction workers following exposure to asbestos.
In the first unified judgment handed down by the Supreme Court over the suits, the ruling said the government was negligent in its duty to protect workers from contracting lung cancer and other diseases linked to asbestos.
It said manufacturers of construction materials containing asbestos were also responsible to some extent, in its ruling on the four lawsuits filed with district courts in Tokyo, Yokohama, Osaka and Kyoto.