Court Rules Clinic Sabotaged Pachinko Parlour

[Mulboyne]

Yomiuri: Top court rules clinic obstructs pachinko parlor business
The Supreme Court on Tuesday overturned a lower court ruling that said opening an orthopedic clinic near a site where a pachinko parlor is set to open does not obstruct its business. Presiding Justice Tokiyasu Fujita said opening a clinic near a pachinko parlor was an abuse of free competition rules, and found the medical corporation that owns the clinic and another pachinko parlor operator illegally obstructed the parlor's business. A pachinko parlor operator in Chikusei, Ibaraki Prefecture, built a new parlor in Moriya, in the prefecture, and planned to open it in May 2001. Prior to its opening, the medical cooperation opened the orthopedic clinic near the parlor in April. The prefecture prohibits the opening of pachinko parlors within 100 meters of a medical clinic. The Tokyo High Court dismissed the claim by the Chikusei pachinko parlor operator for damages of 770 million yen against a pachinko parlor operator from Utsunomiya and a medical corporation in Setagaya Ward, Tokyo.

Although it looks initially like the court has given priority to pachinko parlours over clinics, there is some sense to the ruling. To make the point a bit more clearly, one operator scuppered a rival's new parlour by arranging for a clinic to open just before the place was scheduled to start up. The presence of the clinic nearby invalidated the location because Japan has planning restrictions on how close adult or late night businesses can be to schools and medical facilities. It seems that the rival was able to demonstrate that the first pachinko operator was in league with the clinic and was trying to kill off competition.

[Behan]

That's an interesting way of getting rid of rivals. I would have figured pachinko parlors to get their underworld friends to make offers their rivals couldn't refuse.

[Mulboyne]

Mainichi: Pachinko business ordered to pay damages for blocking rival's construction plans

A pachinko business here has been ordered to pay approximately 128 million yen in damages to a rival chain, after it blocked the construction of a new parlor by opening a medical clinic nearby.

Initial hearings conceded that while the building of the new parlor in Moriya by another operator from the nearby city of Chikusei had been blocked intentionally, there are other suitable locations for the new parlor, and dismissed the claim for damages. However, the Supreme Court ruled that the victim had suffered a loss of earnings from the ruse, and sent the case back to the Tokyo High Court. The high court subsequently awarded two years' worth of estimated operating profit in damages.

According to the plaintiff, construction of the new parlor began in March 2001. However, a rival chain bought a piece of land nearby and sold it to a relative's medical corporation, which set up an orthopedic surgery clinic there. Since a prefectural regulation forbids the construction of such parlors within 100 meters of a medical clinic, the plaintiff withdrew its application for permission to open the parlor.

[Coligny]

And we are told everything... that's for sure...