Society

Osaka court awards family full lost wages of girl with disability killed in 2018

OSAKA, Jan 21 (NHK) - A Japanese high court has ruled that the calculation of earnings a girl with a hearing impairment who died in an accident would have made must be 100 percent based on the average income in Japan.

Osaka High Court presiding judge Tokuoka Yumiko on Monday reversed an Osaka District Court ruling that set 85 percent of the average income as appropriate.

Ide Ayuka was 11 years old when she was fatally struck by a power shovel that ran onto a sidewalk in Osaka City in 2018. She had been attending a school for children with hearing impairments.

Her family filed a damages suit against the driver and their company.

At issue was how to calculate estimated earnings that Ide would have made. The district court ruled that she had potential for a variety of future employment opportunities, but that it was undeniable her hearing impairment would have limited her working abilities.

Her family appealed, demanding the court evaluate Ide's lost wages based on the average of people without disabilities.

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