JAPAN Law and Practice Contributed by: Junichi Ikeda, Takayuki Fujii, Satoyuki Nakano and Tomoaki Kitaguchi, Nagashima Ohno & Tsunematsu
• a defect in the product; • the cause of the defect being attributable to the defendant (with this not being required for a claim for the repair of a defect or the deliv - ery of a substitute for the product); • the occurrence of damage; and • a causal relationship between the defect and the damage. 2.2 Standing to Bring Product Liability Claims Individual Standing The following have the standing to bring claims for product liability, as listed in 2.1 Product Lia- bility Causes of Action and Sources of Law : • under a tort – a person whose right or legally protected interest has been violated; • under the Product Liability Act – (a) a person who has been injured because of the defect; or (b) a person whose property, excluding the defective product itself, has been dam - aged because of the defect; or • under contract law – the buyer. Collective Redress Furthermore, in Japan, the Act on Special Measures Concerning Civil Court Proceedings for the Collective Redress for Property Damage Incurred by Consumers has been enacted. This Act allows a specified qualified consumer organ - isation to bring lawsuits against a company on behalf of unspecified and multiple individual consumers in certain cases. This Act establishes two phased proceed - ings for collective redress for property damage incurred by consumers. In the first proceed - ing, a specified qualified consumer organisa - tion files an action for declaratory judgment on common obligations, which is an action seeking
a declaratory judgment that a company owes monetary payment obligations to unspecified and multiple consumers based on factual and legal causes common to the consumers, where property damage is incurred by a considerable number of consumers in connection with con - sumer contracts. In the second proceeding, sim - plified determination proceedings to determine the presence or absence, and the contents, of a claim for payment of money are carried out by the district court that made the final judgment in the first instance of the action for declaratory judgment on common obligations. A specified qualified consumer organisation may file an action with regard to monetary payment obligations that pertain to the following claims in connection with consumer contracts (set forth in Article 3 (1) of the Act on Special Measures Concerning Civil Court Proceedings for the Col - lective Redress for Property Damage Incurred by Consumers): • a claim for performance of a contractual obligation; • a claim pertaining to unjust enrichment; • a claim for damages based on non-perfor - mance of a contractual obligation; • a claim for damages based on a tort (limited to a claim based on the provisions of the Civil Code); and • following claims for damages on the grounds that a company’s employee has caused dam - ages to a third party in the performance of their duties regarding the consumer contract – (a) a claim for damages based on the provi - sions of Article 715 (1) of the Civil Code against a company that has intention - ally or through gross negligence failed to exercise reasonable care in appointing
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