The Supreme Court has decided to hold arguments in June in a case in which former members of Matsumoto City, Nagano Prefecture, and their families are seeking compensation from the church for suffering damage from large donations from the former Unification Church. .
This is the first time that a case involving solicitation and donations by a religious organization has been heard by the Supreme Court, and the decisions of the first and second instance courts, which rejected the lawsuit, may be reconsidered.
Seven years ago, a former believer who lived in Matsumoto City and died during the trial filed a lawsuit seeking compensation of over 180 million yen, alleging that she was forced to make donations through illegal solicitation.
However, the Tokyo District Court (first instance) and the Tokyo High Court (second instance) found that the former believer had written a memorandum of intent at the age of 86, two years before filing the lawsuit, stating that he would not ``claim compensation from the cult.'' , dismissed the complaint.
The plaintiff appealed, saying, ``The former members were elderly and lacked sufficient judgment, and did not understand the purpose of the memorandum.The memorandum was created by the cult to avoid its obligation to compensate, and the memorandum is invalid.'' he claimed.
On the 18th, Presiding Judge Toru Sakai of the First Petty Bench of the Supreme Court decided to hold arguments regarding this case on June 10th.
The judgment that dismissed the lawsuit may be reconsidered by holding the arguments necessary to change the judgment.
Several former members and their families have filed lawsuits over the cult's recruitment and donations, but this is the first time the case has been heard by the Supreme Court.