Top court rules Unification Church no-refund document invalid

Tomihiro Tanaka, head of the church, will have to shell out 100,000 yen for failing to answer many questions

Kyodo News, Japan/July 11, 2024

Japan's top court on Thursday overturned a lower court ruling that had absolved the Unification Church from returning donations to the family of a late former member, deeming that a document the woman signed preventing her from seeking refunds was invalid.

In the first ruling by the Supreme Court on donations to the religious group, its First Petty Bench sent the case back to the Tokyo High Court, citing insufficient examination of whether the organization had acted illegally.

The woman's family is seeking around 65 million yen ($402,000) in damages from the group. Many other members are known to have signed and submitted similar documents to the Unification Church, which has been under renewed scrutiny since former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was assassinated, allegedly by the disgruntled son of a member.

"If the way donations are solicited significantly deviates from societal norms, it is appropriate to deem it illegal," the court said, referring to circumstances where donors are unable to make informed decisions.

The court stated that the document's validity should be judged based on the circumstances under which it was signed and its purpose, as well as the degree to which it disadvantaged the involved parties.

It concluded that, given the woman was 86 at the time the document was made and under the psychological influence of the church, "it exploited her inability to make rational judgments and significantly disadvantaged her unilaterally, thereby violating public order and morals."

According to the ruling, the woman, who was invited to join the organization by a relative, donated more than 100 million yen, including her bedridden husband's assets, between 2005 and 2010.

In November 2015, the woman signed and sealed a document at a notary office that stated the donations were made of her own volition and that she would not seek any refunds. She later submitted the document to the religious organization.

The woman was diagnosed with dementia around six months after creating the document and died in 2021.

A separate lawsuit in which the government seeks to dissolve the Unification Church over its aggressive donation solicitation practices is ongoing at the Tokyo District Court.

Abe was fatally shot in the street during a July 2022 election campaign stop. The accused shooter, Tetsuya Yamagami, has claimed he targeted Abe over his perceived links to the religious organization.

Yamagami told the police that his mother's vast donations to the group brought financial ruin to his family.

So Kimura, a lawyer representing the plaintiff, said the top court's ruling implied the illegality of the church's donation solicitation methods, noting that "there is now a higher possibility of receiving damages even in cases where donations were made under so-called brainwashing."

The plaintiff, the woman's eldest daughter in her 60s, expressed relief at the ruling, saying that she intends to tell her late mother, "While the trial continues, we have won for now."

The church, meanwhile, said in a statement that, "we are very disappointed the case was remanded. We will continue to defend our position in the retrial."

There have been revelations about connections between many ruling Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers and the group, with some ministers reportedly having received support during election campaigns.