Parents Must Pay $200,000 After Son Kicks Ball Into Street
- Categories: Japan, News
- Date: Jun 29, 2011 00:31 JST
- Tags: Bizarre, Courts, Ehime, Litigation, Old People, Osaka, Schoolboys, Sports
A court has ordered the parents of a boy who accidentally kicked a ball into the street to pay nearly $200,000 in compensation after he, in the court’s view, caused the death of an 87-year-old motorcyclist who fell off his bike in an effort to avoid the ball, breaking his leg and later going senile only to die over a year later as a result of an infection stemming from a feeding accident.
According to the Osaka district court, the incident began in 2004 at a public elementary school in Ehime prefecture, where pupils were practising their football skills by making practice free kicks at a goal.
One fifth year elementary student made a kick which went high, going over the goal posts and into the street beyond. There, it so happened that an 86-year-old man was driving down the street on a bike, and swerved to avoid the ball, crashing and breaking his leg.
He survived, but became senile soon after, and then died some 15 months after the accident as a result of pneumonia contracted after some food accidentally became lodged in his windpipe.
5 members of the man’s bereaved family decided to sue the boy for causing his death, demanding ¥50,000,000. As the boy was a minor at the time of the accident (he is now 19), he could not be held legally responsible, but his parents could, and so the family sued them instead.
In their defence, the boy’s side argued “nothing illegal occurred as he was just normally kicking the ball at the goal.”
The court was having none of it – the judge’s verdict was that “he could have predicted the ball would land in the street and cause an accident,” though he did at least stop short of ordering him to pay compensation, saying “the boy was a youth and bears no legal responsibility for the accident, but his parents do have a duty to pay compensation.”
Accepting that the dead man’s life was drastically altered by his encounter with the stray football, the court ordered the parents to pay up to the family, but reasoned that as the man already had neurological problems prior to the incident they would only have to pay ¥15,000,000 of the ¥50,000,000 demanded of them.
Such a fine example of jurisprudence has not escaped criticism:
“Don’t they normally put up nets around these places?”
“The issue is not the kid, it’s the lack of safety nets.”
“Shouldn’t this responsibility lie with the school which didn’t bother to put nets up and could have predicted the ball would land in the street themselves?”
“If they can sue anyone it’s the school, not the parents!”
“Couldn’t they sue the school and city?”
“Asking 50,000,000 for an 87-year-old man who died as an indirect result of an accident seems a bit much.”
“This old guy was driving a bike at 87? And they sue the boy’s parents? What kind of Japanese are they?”
“Poor parents, suddenly plunged in debt like that.”
“It seems a bit odd that they are attributing his death by misfeeding to this…”
“All ball games in Japan are going to get banned as a result of this, no doubt.”
“Common sense would tell you to expect balls flying out of schools occasionally.”
“Anyone with a car or bike must predict that they could encounter a ball like that. Doesn’t anyone in the court have a driving license?”
“So this 86-year-old man with a known neurological condition was riding a motorcycle around a school?”
“This poor kid and his family have been left worrying about this stuff throughout his childhood for the last 7 years, with no end in sight if they continue to fight the ruling.”
“This verdict is nuts.”
“If he had died right there it might be justifiable.”
“Don’t steal a child’s future for the sake of a dead 87-year-old.”
“I wonder if the bereaved family will be satisfied now the school has banned all ball games?”
“Remember: when you kick a ball you might cause an old man to fall off his bike, go senile and have to be nursed only to be misfed and die.”
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What is this, I don't even...
Killed by a football and some food. Welcome to the old age.
he was never hit by the football. he got into an accident because he didn't want to run into a rolling ball.
because if the ball was flying he wouldn't be fast enough to see or avoid it.
I'm suddenly scared of retirement and my golden years.
We all are.
Isn't that what a sign is for?
people are becoming too stupid to care to look and/or read
Come on! Sue the parents? It's not the kid's fault in the first place! That man's family must have thought it as easy money. Heck I think even the elderly man might have forgave him some time back!
I think karma will bite the old guy's family members back in the butt that will make them think gazillion of times of what they did after they have to pay many times more for causing something later on.
I bet the old man said "Don't sue the boy or his family it was my own fault!" and after he died the rest of his "clan" "Let's go and sue them!"
And they probably saw his request for leniency as a sign of his senility to boot. :P
"People" and "read signs"
there is a "DON'T" in between.
Solid prove of Judiciary System going downhill
that's what happens when you let the yakuza run everything.
Justice has a price tag these days, anybody can set the price.
Too bad regular joes can't afford it.
Ball: 10$
Safety net: -200$
Motorcycle: ~700$
Compensation: 200 000$
Judiciary system: FUBAR
The worst kind of people lives around us, waiting for an opportunity to get money in any way they can.
That's what happens when you let politicians run everything.
it's been known that yakuza have their guys elected into political roles. it's the only way to gain access to more power.
i called it shadow puppets ruling japan.
"that's what happens when you let the yakuza run everything."
It's times like this that I wish Kiryuu Kazuma was ass-whooping Yakuza ass...
That's not an accident, though...
THAT'S A "REVELATION" CHANCE!!!
If he was present during that accident, we would just take out his cellphone, photograph the whole thing, post it on his blog, and learn a new fighting move~
"You have learned *The ball wants to be your friend*"
The Japanese has a sometimes unhealthy and overt respect for the elderly that just turns into plain bias.
I just can't understand the family of the bereaved. There's plenty of cases just like this even in America where people realize it was an unfortunate accident of circumstance (even with that netting thing) and no punishing penalty should be sought after.
I just get the feeling that the family was feeling exploitative and sadly enough, they got their money...
Don't want to sound mean, but 87 year old dying? Sad, yes, but there's no future for that man. $200,000 equivalent of debt is going to ruin GENERATIONS of the 'convicted'.
"I just can't understand the family of the bereaved."
They want money, obviously. He probably blew their inheritance on motorcycles, and then crashed them all.
For all we know, he could have died sooner had he not had the accident. Even if it did shorten his life, if anyone was at fault, it was the school system for placing a goal in front of a road.
Fuck the old man and his stupid fucking family.
I bet that old man's heritage was close to nothing so his family thought they'd make some easy money out of this.
Probably.... usually I am willing to give people the benefit of the doubt.... not in this case!
I agree totally. The family should keep on fighting this ruling and keep on publicizing it. The family in question who filed this case should have the big SHAME stamped over their image for the rest of their lives.
Shouldn't the court prosecute the family for killing the old man by misfeeding him? That's criminal negligence, they could and should have predicted a senile old man would choke on food and catch pneumonia. (How do you catch pneumonia from choking on food?)
If the 15,000,000 was for the actual medical expense incurred due to the changed lifestyle that would be more reasonable case.
Gitami, most likely it was not the family feeding him but a hospital worker and.... it's damned hard even in the United States to get a ruling of negligence against a hospital, contrary to what the Republicans and conservatives are always saying about the U.S. legal system.
Is this scenario similar to what you see in anime's where a party dies in an accident and the family of the person thought responsible has to beg forgiveness and offer financial restitution?
Just wondering if family of the old man felt disrepected and this lawsuit was the result?
May I ask where your Avatar pic comes from? It's really nice.
Speaking of 'what you see in anime'...
This is just about as normal of an accident as a cat/dog/squirrel that suddenly runs into the street and the old man crashes in an attempt to not run over the little critter.
Though what the people in 2ch say are true. Liability lies with the school and whoever designed the school grounds. If you see a baseball field with no nets or fences at all, start suing whoever put that there, not the kids that hit it out with a foul.
you sure a nosy one
sry, he may have been 87 and damn near senile - but a moron that shouldn't have been on a bike. A ball while you're going at any reasonable speed on small streets and in a school zone of all places is not going to do much of anything to a motorcycle... I'd be more worried about him running into a crosswalk of kids in order to avoid a fly...
thats beside the point I guess >_>
money money money mooooney...
I can't see how any sane person could agree with with this verdict, it's just stupid beyond belief.
The old man's family probably senile too.
Can't help hereditary diseases. Just look at Ishihara.
Incurable and terminal.
Very simple. Little boys miss goals all the time. It is extremely unlikely that the ball never went over or wide before; this was no fluke, no bizarre twist of fate. Since the boy was a minor (and hence had no capacity of action, or whatever the Japanese judicial system calls it) the parents were liable because of negligence. Moral: look after your kids properly.
Not really. I don't know about Japan, but where I live, the responsibility to watch over the child transfers from the parents to the school as soon as the child enters the school grounds. Until the child safely reaches home on a reasonably direct route, the school has the obligation to take care of the child. You can't exactly blame the parents for negligence if they entrusted the child with properly trained caretakers - which teachers should be by definition.
That would be true if it wasn't at school. When someone's child goes to school that school is responsible for the child and whatever he does while he is at it. You can sue the school if your child gets hurt or lost at it because of that.
(English is not my mother tongue, so don't criticize me if something is not understood)
Reality: This has nothing to do with the parent's negligence
idiot, it happens in the school
Logeres, you cannot exactly blame the child or the family in this case.... there was a fence and the ball just happened to go ABOVE the fence and hit this old man.
Where I come from, even Atheists call that AoG (Act of God) only we call it Act of Fate.
Right, this particular family is pretty fucking unfortunate.
"the bereaved family probably bribed the judge."
was honestly my first thought.
With the money they getting from this I wouldn't doubt it.
>.> Lets go Akumetsu on the judges ass!
After a debt like that thrown on me I would move out of the country.. Let's see them try to collect than! What a bogus suit and they got it.. what a crooked judge.
if he died of pneumonia because food lodged in his windpipe, then sue whoever made the food (which I doubt was the kid). If anything sue the kid for the hospital bills of the broken leg and nothing else.
and even then, the kid was inside the school, is not like he went outside and kicked the ball at the old guy like a prank or something like that.
at least the legal system is retarded outside the US, makes me feel less shitty.
Fuck you japan.
Try shit like this in another country and you'll be sued for trying.
Sadly no, I see this going through in US or other developed states, too.
Lol are you serious?
Have you heard of McDonald Hot Coffee?
America, the land of frivolous lawsuits.
And let's not forget Dude suing God for bringing disasters and sufferings to the world.
Someone winning a suit against a multi-billion dollar corporation is on an entirely different level from this. To McDonald's, that money is pocket change, so it's a little different from causing what are likely severe financial issues for a family who was only tenuously tied to a person's death. I find it difficult to believe this particular suit would have much chance of going through in the US. The family might win a suit against the school, but not against the family of a student who was partaking in regular school activities.
What about McDonald Hot Coffee?
Is that a case you know about, or just heard about superficially?
Yes that case should have been thrown out it's coffee it's supposed to be hot.
The old hag did become the butt of many a joke.