On August 18, a court in Matsuyama, Ehime Prefecture, ruled against a lawsuit filed by 31 plaintiffs, including bereaved families and residents affected by the 2018 West Japan Heavy Rain, which caused extensive flooding in the Hiji River basin due to emergency releases from two dams. The presiding judge, Fumitaka Koichi, stated that there was no negligence in the operation of the dams, leading to the rejection of the claim for approximately 540 million yen in damages against the national and local governments. Plaintiffs plan to appeal the decision, arguing that the dam's operational rules were critically flawed and inadequate for large-scale floods such as that experienced in 2018.