TOKYO, Sept. 22 (Xinhua) -- A Japanese court on Friday ordered Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. (TEPCO) to pay damages to people who were forced to leave their homes in the wake of the 2011 nuclear disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
The Chiba District Court ordered the embattled utility to pay 376 million yen (3.59 million U.S. dollars) to 42 of the 45 plaintiffs.
The court, however, dismissed claims that were also made by the plaintiffs against the government, in the lawsuit that was originally filed in March 2013.
Friday's ruling marks the second time that a court in Japan has ruled in favor of lawsuits brought against TEPCO by people who fled from Fukushima Prefecture in the wake of the disaster, the meltdowns of which discharged huge amounts of radioactive materials into the air.
The complainants who were ruled in favor of on Friday maintained that they suffered significant losses as a result of being forced to leave their homes and places of employment, after the Daiichi plant suffered multiple nuclear meltdowns in the wake of an earthquake-triggered tsunami that knocked out the plant's vital cooling systems.
The original lawsuit was seeking damages from TEPCO and the government of 2.8 billion yen (25 million U.S. dollars).
