U.S. Navy Sailors File Fukushima Radiation Exposure Class Action Lawsuit

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Last week, a group of U.S. Navy first responders filed an amended class action lawsuit in California federal court against Tokyo Electric Power Co. Inc. (TEPCO), alleging the utility failed to warn them that they would be exposed to nuclear radiation during their mission to aid tsunami victims in the wake of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster of 2011.

The putative class action lawsuit alleges TEPCO knew the Navy rescue personnel were at risk of toxic exposure after an earthquake and subsequent tsunami caused a devastating failure of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in March 2011, causing the plant to release substantial amounts of radioactive material.

The plaintiffs allege that more than 70,000 people will be eligible for certification in the class action lawsuit. These potential Class Members include members of the armed forces and support personnel, as well as their dependents, who served in a variety of capacities related to rescue efforts following the Fukushima nuclear disaster.

According to the class action lawsuit, Naoto Kan, who was the Prime Minister of Japan at the time, admitted on Dec. 12, 2013 that the first nuclear meltdown occurred at the Fukushima plant just five hours after the earthquake. The plaintiffs allege that TEPCO was aware of the nuclear meltdown but failed to disclose the risk to the U.S. Navy first responders who provided humanitarian aid to the victims of the earthquake and tsunami disaster.

“TEPCO was fully aware that the American responders would be exposed to hazardous levels of radiation, yet did not communicate this to the ships and to other responders,” the class action lawsuit says. “TEPCO had a duty to inform any and all persons who were, or would soon be in the vicinity of the [Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant], of the radiological hazards created by the meltdowns which had occurred and were in progress. TEPCO breached this duty, negligently causing injuries, damages and harm to plaintiffs.”

The class action lawsuit accuses TEPCO of failing to properly prepare for a nuclear accident, even though damage from natural disasters including earthquakes and tsunamis should have been a foreseeable issue. The plaintiffs claim that the disaster had been “repeatedly forewarned since 2008 by industry critics.” The Fukushima radiation exposure lawsuit also accuses TEPCO of covering up data about fractured, deteriorating and poorly maintained pipes. The plaintiffs say that just nine days before the Fukushima disaster, the Nuclear Industrial Safety Agency, a government watchdog organization, had warned TEPCO about its failure to inspect critical pieces of equipment at the nuclear power plant.

“TEPCO negligently created an illusory impression that the extent of the radiation that leaked from the site of the [Fukushima plant] was at levels that would not pose a threat to the plaintiffs,” the class action lawsuit says. “They did so in order to promote their own interests, knowing that the information disseminated was defective, incomplete and untrue, while failing to disclose the extraordinary risks posed” to the first responders involved in the humanitarian mission.

Although TEPCO is a Japanese corporation, the plaintiffs argue that it was proper to file the class action lawsuit in California federal court because TEPCO “derived substantial revenue from its activities via goods used or consumed in the United States of America” and that the company “expected or should reasonably have expected its acts to have consequences in the State of California” and throughout the United States.

The putative class action lawsuit seeks $1 billion to pay all medical costs and expenses for medical examination, medical monitoring and medical treatment for Class Members, as well as special and economic damages including lost wages, punitive damages, and costs of the lawsuit including reasonable attorneys’ fees.

The plaintiffs are represented by Charles A. Bonner and A. Cabral Bonner of the Law Offices of Bonner & Bonner and Paul C. Gardner.

The Fukushima Radiation Exposure Class Action Lawsuit is Cooper, et al. v. Tokyo Electric Power Co. Inc., Case No. 3:12-cv-03032, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California.