A court in Japan has ordered a firm responsible for the mercury poisoning in Niigata Prefecture decades ago to pay damages to 26 of 47 plaintiffs who say they suffer from what is known as Niigata Minamata disease.
The plaintiffs, who are not recognized as patients of the disease or are not covered by the special relief measures law, had sued the company and the state for compensation.
The Niigata District Court on Thursday ordered the chemical firm that leaked industrial mercury, Showa Denko, now Resonac Holdings, to pay damages to 26 of the plaintiffs.
But the court rejected the group's demand for state compensation.
The plaintiffs in their 50s to 90s say they suffer from symptoms of mercury poisoning, such as numbness in their limbs.
They sought 8.8 million yen, or 57,000 dollars each, in compensation. The ruling awarded 4 million yen each to the 26 people.
The ruling said that judging from their symptoms and other factors, there is a high probability that they suffer from mercury poisoning.
The court also ruled it cannot be said that the state should have been able to recognize and foresee the leak of organic mercury and that it would damage the health of neighborhood residents.
The Niigata ruling is the third in a series of group suits filed by people who were excluded from relief measures for Minamata and Niigata Minamata disease.
Court decisions have been divided.
Last year, the Osaka District Court ordered the state and other parties to pay compensation to more than 120 plaintiffs.
But in March this year, the Kumamoto District Court rejected a damages claim by more than 140 plaintiffs.