The Fukuoka High Court on Friday upheld a lower court ruling and ordered Nittetsu Mining Co. to pay 251 million yen in damages to 24 people, including 10 former coal miners, saying they contracted black lung disease at Nittetsu mines in Nagasaki Prefecture.
The high court decision upheld a November 1998 ruling by the Nagasaki District Court, which ordered the company to pay 264 million yen.
Presiding Judge Ryoko Masazumi said Nittetsu failed to take precautionary measures, including protecting miners from exposure to particles.
The plaintiffs, including the families of five deceased miners, had demanded 480 million yen in damages, saying the former miners had contracted black lung disease, also known as pneumoconiosis, while working at Nittetsu mines in Nagasaki Prefecture between the 1940s and 1970s.
Black lung disease is one of the most widespread work-related illnesses in Japan.
To date, there have been eight similar suits against Nittetsu Mining and a total of 12 court rulings have been delivered in the cases, all of which ordered the company to pay damages.