Court orders school to pay Y300 mil to man paralyzed by lightning strike

Thursday 18th September, 07:02 AM JST

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nisegaijin at 10:54 AM JST - 18th September

that's bizare! what's next? they gonna sue lightning itself?
n3312 at 11:57 AM JST - 18th September

I remember the waivers I signed over the years, and a phrase keeps popping up: "act of God." I wonder if the players/parents of the players signed waivers during the match then. Or if waivers are used here at all.
blue_monday at 12:54 PM JST - 18th September

Obviously the school is liable, even if there wasn't a warning you do not play outside during a lightning storm, and you always hear them approaching. See the flash, count the seconds before the bang and you have a rough idea of how many miles.

My guess is the teacher was being all macho by expecting the kids to keep playing in adverse conditions.
MPNiea at 01:36 PM JST - 18th September

Well thank God nature wasn't to be blamed for the incident. Just think what Mother Nature would have had to pay. She'd go bankrupt...
meiwaku at 02:21 PM JST - 18th September

Has nothing to do with a chance in nature. The school was negligent in taking reasonable measures to safeguard the students. Of course you get inside during a thuder storm! What kind of morons are teaching in this country?
mikihouse at 03:04 PM JST - 18th September

in Japan a schedule is a schedule even it is utterly ridiculous
ultradodgy at 03:21 PM JST - 18th September

blvtzpk - noted - should read these more carefully...

But honestly I think this reinforces my point, that in Japan you will have situations where kids will defer to authority figures. If these authority figures, against sound advice or warnings, put people in dangerous situations then they should be held accountable. And, quite frankly, sometimes a bow and a 'shoganei' is just not good enough.
helloklitty at 04:16 PM JST - 18th September

but looks like Japan is becoming yet another libetitious country.

You mean "litigious".

A litigious country is a safe country. One that takes precautions as opposed to Japan where people have their heads you-know-where and behave recklessly every day.
Nessie at 04:17 PM JST - 18th September

Yet at the slightest hint of rain, the umbrellas are out.
Hughgarse at 05:48 PM JST - 18th September

what are the odds by the way for being hit by lightning though???
outofmydepth at 06:56 PM JST - 18th September

i think the odds are fairly high if you are outside playing a sport and not sitting under a tree or matsuri tent. "when thunder roars, go indoors."
mikekchar at 08:08 PM JST - 18th September

Odds are 1 in 5000 that you will be hit sometime in your life. The odds getting hit in any particular year is 1 in 700,000. This according to WikiAnswers who claim to have gotten the data from the US National Weather service.

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Whataretheoddsofbeingstruckbylightning
Ah_so at 09:29 PM JST - 18th September

I agree that this was the school's fault. You do not need the threat of litigation to use common sense and get off a playing field in a thunder storm.

Get inside, do not shelter under trees, do not use corded telephones, unplug electrical appliances.

You have a small chance of being hit by lightening, but you make it significantly higher by not following the above advice.
presto345 at 11:32 PM JST - 18th September

Reading through these comments it is very enlightening to see that one person's common sense is the exact opposite of another person's. Personally I laud the decision of the supreme court. As a matter of course all outdoor activities are canceled when there is a storm warning, whether you think it's probably OK or not. You just don't take any risk. Final.
Molenir at 04:23 AM JST - 19th September

Thats complete garbage. 1 in 5000 chance of being struck by lightning sometime in your life? Thats saying that one out of every 5000 people is struck by lightning sometime in their life, and that figure is just wrong. Its off by at least a factor of 10.