The verdict in a civil lawsuit brought by Tepco shareholders is the first time a court has held former executives responsible for the nuclear disaster, local media reports said.
The court ruled that the executives could have prevented the disaster if they exercised due diligence.
“An accident at a nuclear power plant causes irreversible damage to human life and the environment. The executives of companies that operate such plants also have an enormous responsibility that cannot be compared to other companies,” said Yui Kimura, a member of the plaintiffs.
“I think the court’s ruling says that anyone who doesn’t have the determination or ability to take on that responsibility should not become a manager,” Kimura said at a news conference after the ruling.
Public broadcaster NHK quoted an unnamed attorney representing the former executives as saying the attorney would not comment until he reviewed the verdict.
A Tepco spokesman also declined to comment on the ruling.
“We are aware that a ruling on this matter was delivered today, but we will refrain from answering questions about individual court proceedings,” the spokesman said.
The ruling marks a departure from a 2019 criminal case in which the Tokyo District Court found three Tepco executives free of professional negligence and ruled that they could not have foreseen the massive tsunami that struck the nuclear plant.
The criminal case has been appealed and the Tokyo High Court is expected to rule on the case next year.
The Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear disaster, triggered by a tsunami that struck the east coast of Japan in March 2011, was one of the worst in the world and caused Tepco enormous cleanup, compensation and shutdown costs.
The civil lawsuit, filed by Tepco shareholders in 2012, ordered five former Tepco executives to pay the ailing company 22 trillion yen in compensation for ignoring warnings of a possible tsunami.