9th Cir.;
15-56424

The court of appeals affirmed a judgment. The court held that the Convention on Supplementary Compensation for Nuclear Damage (CSC), to which both Japan and the U.S. were parties, did not strip the district court of jurisdiction to hear U.S. service members' claims for damages against a Japanese power plant operator arising from their exposure to radiation during a power plant meltdown in the aftermath of Japan's 2011 earthquake and tsunami.

During Operation Tomodachi, the relief effort immediately following Japan's 2011 earthquake and tsunami, large numbers of U.S. Naval service members were exposed to radiation from the damaged Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. The service members sued plant owner and operator Tokyo Electric Power Company, Inc. (TEPCO) for their injuries, alleging that TEPCO knowingly misled the U.S. military regarding the risk of radiation exposure.