The Supreme Court has upheld a lower court ruling that ordered Kamol Sukosol Electric Co Ltd to pay 640,270 baht plus interest in compensation to the victims of radiation poisoning.
The ruling was read out by the Civil Court on Wednesday, ending a case first brought to court in 2004 by 12 people who had demanded 100 million baht from an engineering and electrical equipment distributor over its reckless storage of radioactive materials.
The case dates back to early 2000 when a scavenger stole a cylinder containing cobalt-60 from the company's car park in Samut Prakan province. He sold the cylinder to a scrapyard which broke it open, causing the leak which poisoned dozens of employees and nearby residents. Three of the victims died from radiation poisoning within a year of the incident.
The Civil Court in 2004 found Kamol Sukosol guilty of negligence and ordered it to pay the victims two million baht in compensation. But a little more than 640,000 baht was all that was left after medical bills were deducted. The compensation payment was to be shared among the 12 victims, with each getting different amounts.
The court argued the victims had already received compensation of 5.2 million baht from the Office of Atomic Energy for Peace (OAEP), ordered by the Administrative Court two years earlier.
The victims appealed the ruling, saying the compensation was not enough and demanded 12.6 million baht.
In 2009, the Appeal Court ruled the compensation set by the lower court was fair.