Photo/Illutration Plaintiffs and their lawyers walk toward Tokyo District Court on July 13 to hear the ruling in their compensation lawsuit against five former executives of Tokyo Electric Power Co. (Sayuri Ide)

The Tokyo District Court on July 13 ordered four former executives of Tokyo Electric Power Co. to pay 13.321 trillion yen ($97 billion) in compensation to the company over the Fukushima nuclear disaster.

The amount awarded is unprecedented in a civil suit in Japan.

The 48 shareholders had sued five former executives, seeking a total of 22 trillion yen in compensation to the company.

The lawsuit said the former executives’ failure to implement adequate anti-tsunami measures at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant led to the  triple meltdown in March 2011 that caused gigantic financial losses for the utility.

The four executives ordered to pay compensation are: Tsunehisa Katsumata, a former chairman; Masataka Shimizu, a former president; and two former vice presidents, Ichiro Takekuro and Sakae Muto.

The only former executive absolved of any compensation responsibility was Akio Komori, a former managing executive officer and director of the Fukushima plant at the time of the accident.

Katsumata, Takekuro and Muto were also indicted on criminal charges of professional negligence resulting in deaths and injuries in connection to the nuclear disaster.

But the Tokyo District Court in 2019 found the three not guilty.

The ruling was appealed to the Tokyo High Court, which is expected to hand down a ruling in January 2023.

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