The Supreme Court Dismissed Abandonment of Objection

The First Petty Bench of the Supreme Court overturned a lower court ruling on a case in which former follower of the Unification Church accused the church of its invitation for donation. Although the plaintiff had submitted a document for not filing any lawsuit complaining about the donation, the top court found the document to be invalid as it considered the details of the conditions. The ruling may affect other argument of the followers who demand returning donations to the church. 

A daughter, with her mother who followed the church, filed a lawsuit seeking 65 million yen in damages in March 2017, arguing that the church invited her mother to donate for the church by making her psychologically uneasy about her family. It was argued that the church had said that her ancestors were distressed in the spiritual world. She made donations amounting over 100 million yen by selling her husband’s financial assets and real estates between 2005 and 2010.

 

Tokyo District Court dismissed the daughter’s argument as invalid, because her mother submitted a document to the church. She had signed and sealed the document in 2015 that she would not request returning the donations or demand compensation on the damage. She was diagnosed dementia seven months later from the signing. She died after appealing to the high court, but the court followed the decision of the first court.

 

The Supreme Court made two points on this case. One is whether the document was valid or not. Overturning the decisions of lower courts, the top court found that the document would restrict her right to access to the courts, which is guaranteed in Article 32 of the Constitution of Japan. The court demanded deliberation on the situation and drew a line that the document could be invalid, if it would have violated public order and morality. “Taking advantage of situation in which she was in difficulty to make a rational decision, the church unilaterally imposed her a large disinterest,” said the court.

 

The second point was whether the invitation for donation was illegal. The court considered whether the church disturbed her proper decision and the donation affected her ordinary life. The court concluded that her donation of 100 million yen was extraordinary one, bringing unignorable impact on her life. It was determined that an invitation to donation could be illegal, if it deviated from a conventional wisdom.

 

The assassin of former prime minister Shinzo Abe, whose mother was a follower of the Unification Church, had been suffering from his mother’s donation to the church. The Diet passed the Unjust Donation Prevention Act in 2022, which required a religious institute to consider whether donation was made under a situation in which the donor cannot make proper decision, or whether the donation would make donor’s life difficult.

 

The decision of the Supreme Court reflected the concept of the act, which was established after the assassination. Tokyo High Court will reconsider the points raised by the Supreme Court in its reexamination of the case.

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