High court slashes damages owed by Osaka governor over 2007 remarks

Friday 03rd July, 04:41 AM JST

HIROSHIMA —

The Hiroshima High Court on Thursday more than halved to 3.6 million yen the compensation owed by Osaka Gov. Toru Hashimoto to four lawyers over remarks he made in 2007 about their tactics in defending a man convicted of murder. Hashimoto, himself a lawyer, was ordered last October by the Hiroshima District Court to pay the lawyers 8 million yen for defamation and obstructing their business over remarks he made in a 2007 TV show before he was elected governor, criticizing the lawyers’ arguments and calling on viewers to campaign for them to be punished.

Presiding Judge Satoshi Hirota ruled that Hashimoto, who was a TV celebrity at the time, acted illegally by calling for punishment of the lawyers. But the judge did not recognize his remarks as defamation as the lower court had. ‘‘Mere criticisms of defense counsel activities cannot be a reason for punishment. It is illegal in the sense (that Hashimoto’s call) failed to meet the purpose of the punishment system,’’ Hirota said. After the talk show was aired in May 2007, more than 2,500 requests for punishing the lawyers were filed with the Hiroshima Bar Association, but the association took no action. The incident prompted the four to seek 12 million yen in damages from Hashimoto, saying his comments obstructed their business.

Kyodo

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6 Comments

bcbrownboy at 07:28 AM JST - 3rd July

Heaven: Lawyers suing lawyers.
some14some at 07:46 AM JST - 3rd July

No Compensation. Initial claim: Y12M, District court reduced to Y8M, and High court to Y3.6M...Supreme Court will make it Zero. Good luck to lawyers and Hashimoto.
amerijap at 08:56 AM JST - 3rd July

It's ironic and so ugly in the context of lawyers suing the public administrator. I wonder how the case was leaked to the public media so that this young brash celebrity jumped down on the attorneys' throats.

obstructing their business over remarks he made in a 2007 TV show

Huh? You mean obstruction of 'justice'??? And isn’t the media also responsible for feeding him in to make a scathing attack on the legal sphere which is a sacred cow?
fds at 10:44 AM JST - 3rd July

he was just expressing his opinion. what happened to free speech? and i wonder how these defense lawyers proved their damages? with the free publicity, their business could have increased.
stirfry at 01:14 PM JST - 3rd July

No Compensation. Initial claim: Y12M, District court reduced to Y8M, and High court to Y3.6M...Supreme Court will make it Zero. Good luck to lawyers and Hashimoto.

what this means is, the district court got Y4M in bribes, and the high court got Y4.4M...simple stuff, really
amerijap at 05:58 AM JST - 5th July

he was just expressing his opinion.

No. He does more than that. His dislike of defense councils' arguments got the better of his rationality that prodded him into promoting his radical ideas to stamp on the legal professionals through the media.