A Japanese high court on Thursday revoked cuts in welfare benefits in the 2013-2015 period for 13 recipients in Aichi Prefecture and ordered the government to pay damages to them, overturning a lower court decision.
"The revisions in question (to the standard amounts of welfare benefits) are extremely unreasonable and go beyond the scope of discretion," Presiding Judge Yasuhiro Hasegawa of Nagoya High Court said, ordering the state to pay ¥10,000 to each of the 13 plaintiffs, who had argued that the reductions were illegal.
It was the second high court ruling on the matter and the first in favor of the plaintiffs. Compensation was granted for the first time in all of the related lawsuits.