学校事故における賠償範囲論の展開ーいじめを理由とする自殺の事案を中心にー
福田健太郎
青森法政論叢 22 1 - 20 2021年08月
[査読有り] When a student commits suicide because of bullying at school, a lawsuit for damages is often filed against the offending student or school. The issue at trial is whether the defendant is responsible for the suicide. This is a matter of interpretation of Article 416 of the Civil Code. Traditionally, Japanese courts have regarded a student's suicide as special damages under Article 416(2), denying the foreseeability of the offending student, or school teacher. In other words, the perpetrator and the school have been held not liable for the suicide.
However, even if suicide is a special damage, it is not reasonable to conclude that suicide could not have been foreseen today. Suicide is obviously a generally foreseeable injury. If that is the case, then, suicide should be considered as ordinary damages under Article 416, paragraph (1), not as special damages under paragraph (2) of the same article.