The Supreme Court on Thursday overturned a lower court's ruling in favor of the Unification Church in a ¥65 million damages lawsuit over the religious group's alleged illegal solicitation of donations.
The top court's First Petty Bench, presided over by Justice Toru Sakai, unanimously decided to send the case back to the Tokyo High Court. This was the Supreme Court's first ruling on the group's donation collection activities.
The lawsuit was filed by a female Unification Church follower and her first daughter and challenged the validity of a memorandum in which the follower promised not to raise a lawsuit to get her money back.