This Will Prevent Huge Compensation Claims Due to Annoying Videos

Since the beginning of the year, the conveyor-belt sushi chain and others have been victimized by a number of malicious “nuisance videos. Among them, the “peropero boy” who doused the spout of a soy sauce bottle, an unused teacup, and sushi in the lane at a Sushiro restaurant in Gifu Prefecture with saliva is attracting attention as a potential victim of a huge compensation bill.

After receiving apologies from the boy and his parents, Sushiro announced on its official website, “We will deal with this matter strictly from both a criminal and civil perspective. How much compensation will the boy owe this time? And how can he avoid paying huge compensation? Mr. Mitsuki Okamoto, a lawyer and former member of the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly, explains.

The responsibility is divided into three categories: those who caused trouble, those who filmed it, and those who uploaded it to social networking sites. I think it is necessary to consider where the responsibility lies in terms of the maliciousness of the act. In terms of maliciousness, I think the person who uploaded the photo to a social networking service is more likely to be held responsible. I believe that the person who uploaded the photos to a social networking service is more culpable. The high school student who caused trouble is guilty of destruction of property, but if he or she did not spread it on a social networking site, he or she is not liable to the police. However, if they had not spread the information on social networking sites, it is possible that the police would not have been involved and they could have apologized to the students.

In this case, if the incident had not been spread, the amount of compensation for the soy sauce bottle, hot water bottle, and sushi could have ranged from a few hundred yen to a few thousand yen.

In this case, the cost of the soy sauce bottles, hot water bottles, and sushi would have been several hundred to several thousand yen. The spread of the incident on SNS caused a social uproar, and many people began to feel uneasy about eating at restaurants. As the damage to the restaurant became greater, the police were forced to investigate not only for destruction of property and violation of the Misdemeanor Law, but also for obstruction of business by deceptive means.”

Sushiro’s stock price temporarily dropped by 17 billion yen in market value. Some speculate on the Internet that the boy may have to pay for the drop in the stock price, but Okamoto denies this.

The drop in the stock price is a loss to the shareholders, not to Sushiro,” Okamoto said. Generally speaking, it is difficult to prove a causal relationship between the nuisance and the drop in stock prices, so it is unlikely that the shareholders would win a lawsuit. However, we cannot rest assured yet. If Sushiro were to file a claim for damages for a drop in the store’s sales, it is possible that it would be required to pay compensation far in excess of what it could pay as an individual.”

In one case, a buckwheat noodle restaurant was fined over 10 million yen for compensation to a part-time worker who caused trouble by damaging the restaurant’s brand and forcing it to close. Since Sushiro is a major chain, the amount of compensation is expected to be in the tens of millions of yen. Although this is not an amount that a minor can afford to pay, the boy himself will be held responsible.

He said, “It is possible for a high school student to escape liability for damages by going bankrupt. Under bankruptcy law, even if he goes bankrupt, he may not be relieved of his liability for damages. If he had maliciously intended to damage the Sushiro brand, he would not be discharged and could continue to pay tens or hundreds of millions of yen in compensation.