Not Guilty for Kids’ Failure

Japan is geographically a small country with dense population. When kids kicked a soccer ball out of a park to public road, it may cause severe accident in car traffic. In this case, the accident had legally been attributed to the parents of the soccer kids. A new decision of the Supreme Court of Japan found no responsibility of the parents in that case. Drivers will need to be more careful about playing kids around the street.

In 2004, an eighty-year-old man was riding motorcycle on the road outside of park ground of an elementary school in Imabari city, Ehime. He tried to avoid riding on a soccer ball coming from the school and fell down, resulting his death a year and half later. His family indicted parents of the school kids demanding compensation of fifty million yen. Osaka Appeal Court found guilty of parents and ordered to pay the compensation.

The Supreme Court dismissed responsibility of the parents to the activities of their kids not on their watch. “Kicking soccer ball in school park ground can not be regarded as an activity of harming someone. Even if a child injures someone, parents will not be blamed with not taking care, as long as the accident cannot actually be predicted,” the sentence said.

Formerly, it was recognized that parents needed to take responsibility to everything their kids would do, because kids had no ability to compensate what they had done. The decision of the Supreme Court urged future cases to consider the situation of the accident and what parents can do to avoid accident.

It is not only about kids. In a case that an old man with mental disease fell down to the track in a station and died, the railway company accused family of the old man of insufficient care on him and demanded compensation for the cost the company had to spend for alternative transportation. Nagoya Appeal Court ordered wife of the old man to pay compensation.

It is not rare for a man to see a sign of “Do not play catch here” in a park in Tokyo area. Parks are too small and missed ball may always hit someone around. Soccer, volleyball, or other ball play is prohibited in the park. So, what is the park for?

Japanese law enforcement has been heavily on the side of victims, without consideration of inevitability. More oversight on kids and aged people will be needed to avoid unpredictable accident in public spaces. Insurance will be a possible response. But, as long as Japanese government does not take action to ease concentration of population, trouble over the activity of innocent kids will not be eliminated.