NEWS

Today we continue our series on foreign driving, as we did last week.

When it comes to driving, traffic situations are bound to occur.

Here are some tips on what to expect and how to deal with them.

Travel expenses for family members from the home country
If a family member in the home country needs nursing care as a result of injuries sustained in a traffic accident, the family member's travel expenses may be awarded as damages.

In a past court case, a Chinese resident in Japan with a young child suffered head trauma and other injuries, and was awarded a disability level 14 for somatoform disorder. (Tokyo District Court decision dated March 31, 2015)

In another case, the parents of a pregnant Korean resident of Japan who came to Japan from Korea to help her with an injury such as a sprained cervical vertebrae were awarded travel expenses for one of the parents, on the grounds that the visit of at least one of the parents to Japan to care for her body and provide nursing and personal care immediately after the accident had a reasonable causal relationship with the injury caused by the accident (Tokyo District Court, March 31, 2015 decision). The Tokyo District Court ruled on January 28, 1998 that the travel expenses for one person only were allowable.

Death compensation
Death compensation is an item of damages awarded for emotional distress suffered by the victim in the event of death. There are two types of death compensation: death compensation for the deceased and death compensation for the next of kin.

The court standard for a Japanese victim is 2,800 yen if the victim is the breadwinner of the family (a case in which the victim's household depends mainly on the victim's income to support itself). In other cases, the amount is between 20 million yen and 25 million yen.

However, when the victim is a foreigner, the income level and standard of living in the victim's home country are also taken into consideration. If the victim is a foreigner from a country with a low standard of living, the amount tends to be calculated lower than in the case of a Japanese national.

In a past court case, when a foreigner of Sri Lankan nationality died and the bereaved family had Sri Lankan nationality and was expected to continue living in Sri Lanka in the future, the court awarded 5 million yen as compensation for death, taking into consideration the economic situation that the monetary value of Sri Lanka and Japan are almost 10 times different. (Tokyo High Court decision dated January 25, 2001).

Damages for absence from work and lost earnings
Lost income” refers to the loss of income caused by absence from work or restricted operation due to injury or medical treatment as a result of the accident.

Lost earnings” are damages for the loss of future capacity to work due to residual disability after the symptoms are fixed.

Both of these are damages calculated from the perspective of how much income would have been earned in the absence of the traffic accident, and are calculated based on the income before the accident.

In cases where the victim is a foreigner, specific circumstances such as the duration of the foreigner's stay in Japan and his/her income level in his/her home country must be taken into consideration in addition to the above.

Permanent Residents, etc.
In the case of a foreign national who has a permanent resident status in Japan, both lost time injury and lost earnings due to residual disability are calculated in the same way as for Japanese nationals.

In the case of a welding worker of Brazilian nationality with permanent resident status who was awarded a permanent disability such as limitation of range of motion of the left ankle joint (Grade 12-7), the court held that although he looked for a job in Japan after his symptoms were fixed, he did not last long due to his injury and returned to Brazil, he had a permanent resident status and was expected to work in Japan for a considerable period of time. However, there is a case (judgment dated March 27, 2013 of Nagoya District Court) in which the court found that the victim had a permanent resident status and was expected to work in Japan for a considerable period of time, and awarded him 20 years of lost earnings based on his income in the year prior to the accident.

In the case of temporary workers
In the case of a foreigner who has a status of residence that allows him or her to work and is staying in Japan temporarily and is scheduled to leave the country in the future, the income is based on his or her income in Japan during the period during which he or she can expect to work in Japan. After the period of availability to work in Japan, lost time injuries and lost earnings will be calculated based on the expected income in the destination country.

The period during which a foreigner can work in Japan is determined based on various factual and normative factors, such as the purpose of the foreigner's visit to Japan, his/her intention at the time of the accident, whether or not he/she has a status of residence, the content of the status of residence, the period of residence, the actual and probable record of extension of the period of residence, whether or not the alien has a work qualification, and the manner of employment (Supreme Court ruling, January 28, 1997). (Supreme Court decision dated January 28, 1997).

Temporary Worker Court Decisions1
A Japanese-Brazilian who was working under the status of “spouse of Japanese national” and was left with a residual disability such as motor palsy of the lower limb (combined Grade 5) due to an accident was awarded for lost earnings and lost income due to residual disability, considering that he came to Japan to save money to open a convenience store in Brazil in the future. In the case, the court calculated the loss of income based on the actual income in Japan for 5 years from the fixation of symptoms, and based on 4.5 times the minimum wage in Brazil until the age of 67 after that (judgment of Gifu District Court, Mitake Branch, dated March 17, 1997).


Court Decisions on Temporary Workers2
Regarding the lost earnings of a Chinese system engineer who temporarily stayed in Japan with a residence permit, the court found that approximately 3.5 years had passed since he joined a Japanese company, that he married a Chinese woman during that time and started living in Japan with her, and that his salary income in 2007, the year following his arrival in Japan, was 25 years old and This is three times the average annual salary of a system engineer in China, and it can be seen that the plaintiff wants to continue to live in Japan as a permanent resident. In this case, the court concluded that there was a high probability that the victim would be able to continue to work in Japan, and calculated the loss of earnings by taking into consideration the average income of Japanese males, based on the assumption that the victim would continue to work for 41 years from the age of 26 when the symptoms were fixed to the age of 67d (judgment dated September 10, 2010, Nagoya District Court).

Court Decisions on Temporary Workers3
In a case where a foreigner who came to Japan with a temporary visitor status and illegally remained and worked after the expiration of his/her period of stay was injured in an industrial accident that left him with a permanent disability, there was a case in which the period during which he/she could work in Japan was limited to 3 to 4 years, because he/she could not escape eventual deportation. (Supreme Court decision dated January 28, 1997).

For clarity, we have also introduced some past cases.

Fun and danger go hand in hand!

We will continue next week.

We will bring you more information next week that will give you peace of mind!

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