JAPAN Law and Practice Contributed by: Junichi Ikeda, Takayuki Fujii, Satoyuki Nakano and Tomoaki Kitaguchi, Nagashima Ohno & Tsunematsu
the said employee or in supervising the business; (b) a claim for damages based on the provi - sions of Article 715 (2) of the Civil Code against a supervisor of the business who has intentionally, or through gross negli - gence, failed to exercise reasonable care in appointing said employee or in super - vising the business; and (c) a claim for damages based on a tort (limited to a claim based on the provisions of the Civil Code) against said employee who has intentionally, or through gross negligence, caused damage to a third party. Damage that cannot be compensated through collective redress actions An action may not be filed when the damage incurred is any of the following (as set forth in Article 3 (2) of the Act on Special Measures Con - cerning Civil Court Proceedings for the Collec - tive Redress for Property Damage Incurred by Consumers): (i) damage due to the loss or damage of prop - erty other than goods, rights or any other object of a consumer contract resulting from the non- performance of a contractual obligation or a tort; (ii) damage due to the loss of profit that would have been gained through the disposition or use of the object of a consumer contract if that object had been provided; (iii) damage due to the loss or damage of proper - ty other than goods pertaining to manufacturing, processing, repair, transport or retention under a consumer contract or any other subject of the service that was the object of a consumer con - tract, resulting from the non-performance of a contractual obligation or a tort;
(iv) damage due to the loss of profit that would have been gained through the use of the ser - vice that is the object of a consumer contract or through the disposition or use of the subject of the service if the service had been provided; (v) damage due to harm done to the life or body of a person; or (vi) damage due to mental suffering, excluding the following damages (limited to cases where the main facts on which the calculation of the amount is based are common to a substantial number of consumers): • damages that are claimed in conjunction with the claims listed in Article 3 (1) of the Act on Special Measures Concerning Civil Court Proceedings for the Collective Redress for Property Damage Incurred by Consumers (regarding claims (iii) to (v) set forth in Article 3 (1), limited to those that do not include claims pertaining to damages due to mental suffer - ing) and based on factual causes common to property claims; or • damages that are caused by a company intentionally. Since the damages that are subject to the claims described in 2.1 Product Liability Causes of Action and Sources of Law correspond to (i), (ii), (v) and (vi) in the foregoing, a specified qualified consumer organisation cannot bring a collective redress action with respect to a claim under the Product Liability Act. 2.3 Time Limits for Product Liability Claims Tort The right to seek compensation for damages in tort will be extinguished by the completion of prescription if the victim, or their legal rep -
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