Court proposes automakers pay 1.2 billion yen to settle pollution suit

The Tokyo High Court proposed Friday that seven automakers pay 1.2 billion yen to hundreds of asthma patients to settle a decade-long court battle over air pollution caused by emissions from diesel-powered motor vehicles in Tokyo.

Presiding Judge Toshiaki Harada gave the plaintiffs and defendants until July 12 to decide whether to accept the court-proposed compromise plan.

The amount of settlement money proposed by the high court compares with 500 million yen the automakers earlier offered to pay.

The defendants in the damages suit are the central government, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, the privatized Metropolitan Expressway Co., and the seven manufacturers — Toyota Motor Corp., Nissan Motor Co., Nissan Diesel Motor Co., Mitsubishi Motors Corp., Hino Motors Ltd., Isuzu Motors Ltd. and Mazda Motor Corp.

The defendants other than the automakers have already agreed to settle the battle with about 630 plaintiffs.

In offering the compromise plan, the high court praised antipollution measures and medical subsidies offered by the central and metro governments as well as Metropolitan Expressway, the operator of elevated toll roads in the capital.

Over the plaintiffs' demands for medical subsidies, the metro government has proposed establishing a medical-care fund for asthma patients.

The central government has offered 6 billion yen for the program, and Metropolitan Expressway 500 million yen.

On antipollution measures, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport has offered to take measures to ease traffic congestion and to strengthen monitoring of air pollution.

The ministry also offered a plan to improve traffic flows at three intersections, improve access to elevated toll roads, discount tolls for loop roads on a test basis to reduce inflows of motor vehicles into central Tokyo, and to increase the number of atmospheric observation stations.

The Environment Ministry proposed a plan to launch monitoring of particulate matter with a diameter of 2.5 micrometers or less.

The plaintiffs have indicated they will accept the medical subsidy program and antipollution measures, leaving the amount of settlement money to be paid by the automakers the only issue unresolved.

The plaintiffs filed the suit in six groups from 1996 to 2006, demanding that emissions of air pollutants be halted and that the defendants pay a total of 14.8 billion yen.