A Japanese district court on Thursday ordered Resonac Holdings to pay ¥104 million in damages to people claiming to suffer from Niigata Minamata disease, a neurological disorder caused by mercury poisoning.
At Niigata District Court, Presiding Judge Norio Shimamura ruled that 26 of the 47 plaintiffs in the group lawsuit suffered from Minamata disease linked to methylmercury-tainted wastewater from a plant operated by the chemical maker's predecessor, Showa Denko, in Niigata Prefecture.
The plaintiffs had demanded a total of ¥8.8 million per person in damages, including from the government, after they were excluded from a special relief program.