High Court Effectively Annuls Finalized Ruling for Isahaya Gate Opening

July 31, 2018

Fukuoka- Fukuoka High Court on Monday issued a verdict effectively canceling a finalized ruling in 2010 that ordered the Japanese government to open floodgates at the Isahaya Bay dike built in a state reclamation project in Nagasaki Prefecture, southwestern Japan.

The latest ruling overturned a lower court verdict that dismissed the state's claim over its payment of penalties related to its failure to open the gates.

After the government refused to open the gates despite the finalized ruling, local fishermen, who had claimed that the fishing environment deteriorated because of the closure of the gates, sued the state at Saga District Court in December 2013, seeking its penalty payments to them.

The state filed a countersuit in January 2014, demanding that such penalty payments should not be forced.

In April 2014, the Saga court ordered the government to pay the penalties until the gates are opened, and the order was finalized by the Supreme Court in January 2015. The government has paid 900,000 yen a day to the fishermen, or 20,000 per head, with its total payment reaching about 1.2 billion yen.

Meanwhile, Saga District Court in December 2014 turned down the countersuit filed by the state.

Handing down the latest ruling to cancel this district court decision, Kazuto Nishii, presiding judge at Fukuoka High Court, said Monday, "The common fishing right that was the basis of the (fishermen's) right to demand the opening of the gates has already disappeared." The high court also approved the suspension of penalty payments.

The fishermen plan to appeal against the day's ruling to the Supreme Court.

According to the judge, the common fishing right lost effect at the end of August 2013 as the 10-year license period had passed, and the fishermen lost their right to demand the opening of the gates at the same time.

The high court concluded that the forced penalty payment based in the 2010 finalized ruling is not permissible.

Although the fishermen said that their license had been renewed without interruption, the high court rejected their claim, saying that the licenses before and after renewals were not the same.

It is rare for the Japanese government to file an objection to a court ruling that was finalized.

If Monday's high court ruling becomes final, the government in effect would no longer be obliged to open the gates. The government hopes to resolve the series of lawsuits related to the Isahaya Bay dike gates without opening them, sources familiar with the situation said.

In a proposal made in March this year, Fukuoka High Court called on the government and the fishermen to settle their disputes through the creation of a fishery promotion fund by the government, without the opening of the gates.

But as the fishermen rejected to the proposal, the settlement talks were terminated in May. Jiji Press