The Answer - Yomiuri's Defeat Became Final on June 28, 2016
The defamation suit that the Yomiuri Giants brought against Bungeishunju, publisher of Shukan Bunshun, over the magazine's report on Tatsunori Hara's 100 million yen payment ended in defeat for Yomiuri. In a decision dated June 28, 2016, the Third Petty Bench of the Supreme Court declined to accept the club's appeal, and the rulings that had rejected the club's claims at the first and second instances became final.
| Date | Stage | Outcome and key findings |
|---|---|---|
| December 2012 | Suit filed | The Yomiuri Giants seek ¥30 million in damages and a published apology |
| July 2015 | First instance, Tokyo District Court | Claim dismissed. The report found to have reasonable grounds for belief in its truth |
| December 2015 | Second instance, Tokyo High Court | Appeal dismissed. The main parts of the article true, the press conference account inferred to be false |
| Dated June 28, 2016 | Supreme Court, Third Petty Bench | Appeal not accepted, second-instance ruling final |
The Tokyo High Court ruling that stood was harsh on the club on two points. First, it found that it could be inferred that a Yomiuri official had given a false account at a press conference. Second, it found that the main parts of the article were true (Nikkan Sports, June 29, 2016). The party that sued ended up having its own account called into question in court.
Neither the ¥30 million in damages nor the published apology the club sought was granted. The Yomiuri Giants' public relations department said it was "extremely regrettable that an unjust ruling marked by a gross misreading of the facts has become final." This article lays out the course of the case from filing to final judgment, and what the club and NPB said after it.
The June 2012 Report and the Club's Response
In June 2012, Shukan Bunshun reported how Hara, then Yomiuri's manager, had paid 100 million yen in 2006 in connection with a 1988 affair with a woman. Bunshun described the two men who received the money as former gangsters, and the Asahi Shimbun also reported them as former gang members, but the club's public relations office denied this. The report and the club's response at the time are covered in our article on the Hara 100 million yen affair.
On June 20, Hara broadly acknowledged the article's contents, including the 1988 affair and the 2006 payment, and apologized to fans. He described the recipient of the payment as "a person connected to professional baseball."
In a document released at the same time as Hara's apology, the club named Hidetoshi Kiyotake, who had been dismissed as GM in 2011, as the source of the leak. Kiyotake's side denied it right away, saying, "This is truly regrettable. I had nothing to do with it." The events leading to his dismissal are in our article on the Kiyotake revolt.
With the report and the club's account still at odds, the club chose six months later to take the publisher to court. In the trial, the question of who the two men were turned into the question of whether the club's own account had been true.
The Suit and the First Ruling - The Tokyo District Court Dismissed the Club's Claim
In December 2012, the Yomiuri Giants sued Bungeishunju for defamation, seeking ¥30 million in damages and the publication of an apology. The plaintiff was the Yomiuri Giants.
In July 2015, the Tokyo District Court dismissed the claim. The ruling said that "it is reasonable to regard those who committed extortion as antisocial forces in the general sense," and found that Bunshun had reasonable grounds to believe its report was true (Asahi Shimbun, July 15, 2015). Under Japanese defamation law, such reasonable grounds for belief in the truth of what was published relieve the publisher of liability.
The club appealed against the ruling. Even after a suit that went as far as demanding a published apology had been rejected, the club did not back down.
The High Court and the Supreme Court - The Press Conference Account Inferred to Be False
In December 2015, the Tokyo High Court upheld the first ruling and dismissed the club's appeal. According to the summary of the ruling quoted by Nikkan Sports, the high court found that it could be inferred that a Yomiuri official had given a false account at a press conference, and that the main parts of the article were true.
The first-instance court found that Bunshun had reasonable grounds to believe its report was true. The high court found the main parts of the article true and inferred that the club's press conference account was false.
The club appealed to the Supreme Court, but the Third Petty Bench, with Justice Michiyoshi Kiuchi presiding, decided on June 28, 2016 not to accept the appeal. The decision came to light by June 29, and the second-instance ruling against the club became final (Nikkan Sports and Sankei Shimbun, June 29, 2016). With the dismissal at the first instance confirmed, neither the ¥30 million in damages nor the apology was ever granted.
Reactions After the Final Ruling and Where NPB Drew the Line
After the ruling became final, the Yomiuri Giants' public relations department said it was "extremely regrettable that an unjust ruling marked by a gross misreading of the facts has become final." Bungeishunju said it "takes this as a natural decision recognizing the legitimacy of the article" (Nikkan Sports, June 29, 2016).
On June 30, NPB Secretary General Atsushi Ihara said he believed Hara, who had stepped down as manager in October 2015, had not violated the Baseball Agreement, which prohibits exchanges of money with gangsters. His explanation was that Hara was "in the position of a victim. We understand that he met them without recognizing them as gang members." The same article also noted the premise that handing money to someone known to be a gang member would breach the Baseball Agreement (Sankei Sports, July 1, 2016).
The period from the high court ruling to the final judgment overlaps with November 2015 to March 2016, when Yomiuri was fined over the baseball gambling scandal involving three pitchers and Kyosuke Takagi. In the same months, the club was being sanctioned over its players' gambling while continuing to fight in court against the publisher that had reported on the money paid by Hara as its manager. The gambling scandal is covered in our article on the Yomiuri players' gambling scandal.
At its June 2012 press conference, the club said the two men were not antisocial forces, and the high court ruling that stood inferred that this account was false. Even so, the club called the ruling "unjust" and never revised its 2012 account. What the confirmed high court ruling inferred to be false was not the article but the club's own account, and Yomiuri's failure to correct it on its own is a problem of accountability. What NPB judged was whether Hara personally had breached the agreement, and it drew that line at whether he knew the men were gang members. By that line, the inference that the club's press conference account was false is never put in question.
How to Read This Article and Its Limits
The content of the rulings described here is limited to what newspapers quoted; the text of the rulings themselves has not been examined. The first ruling is based on the Asahi Shimbun, and the high court summary and the Supreme Court decision on Nikkan Sports and the Sankei Shimbun. For the first and second rulings, only the month is given, based on the dates of the articles. The exact words a club official used at the June 2012 press conference are not covered here either.
The Supreme Court decision was a refusal to accept the appeal, not a fresh finding of fact by the Supreme Court. What became final was the Tokyo High Court's judgment: inferring that the press conference account was false and finding the main parts of the article true were both the second-instance findings, while reasonable grounds for belief in the truth was the first-instance reasoning.
As to who the two men were, the facts go only as far as Bunshun and the Asahi Shimbun reporting them as former gang members and the club denying it; this article does not settle the question. Nor does it assess Hara as an individual. After stepping down as manager in 2015, Hara became manager for the third time in 2019.