TOKYO, Jan. 15 (Xinhua) -- The city of Zushi, located in Japan's eastern Kanagawa prefecture, was ordered by a local court on Monday to pay 1.1 million yen (9,900 U.S. dollars) in compensation for providing the address of a woman who was later tracked down and killed by a stalker in 2012.
A private detective hired by the woman's ex-boyfriend got her home address in a telephone call to the municipal government by pretending to be her husband.
The ex-boyfriend, who had been arrested before for stalking and threatening to kill the woman, murdered her and then committed suicide the next day after getting her address from the detective.
The woman's husband filed a lawsuit with the Yokosuka branch of the Yokohama District Court, arguing that the city is liable for negligence for providing citizens' private information without confirming with the people concerned.
The city, meanwhile, tried to defend itself by saying that it could not have foreseen the murder case when providing the information.
The court, while denying direct causal connection between the murder case and the city's provision of the information, said the city's act violated the obligation of confidentiality under a law on local public service.
The victim's husband said that the ruling would warn people against information leakage.
The manager of the detective agency was found guilty for fraudulent obstruction of business by a district court in 2015.
