The Yokohama District Court has turned down demands for punitive damages from the family of a woman who was killed in an accident when the wheel of a passing Mitsubishi truck suddenly came off and struck her. The accident was caused by a defect that was known by the automaker and covered up.

Though the family was demanding that Mitsubishi Motors and the Japanese government pay a total of 100 million yen in punitive damages, the court ordered the company to pay only 5.5 million yen for the loss of the woman’s life.

The court was ruling on a 165 million yen damages suit — 65 million yen in compensation and 100 yen in punitive damages — against Mitsubishi Motors and the government. It ordered the truck maker to only pay 5.5 million yen to the mother of 29-year-old Shiho Okamoto, who was killed when she was struck by a wheel that flew off an MMC truck. Okamoto’s two children were also hurt.

The judges called Mitsubishi “extremely heinous” for covering up the defect and failing to fix it, but they also ruled that the Japanese legal system does not allow for payment of punitive damages.

“Imposition of punitive damages, aimed at punishing an offender, is not congruous to our country’s legal system,” the three-judge panel said in the ruling. Judge Hiroyuki Shibata read out the decision on behalf of presiding Judge Hiroshi Yamamoto, who had been transferred to another court.

There is no Supreme Court precedent on punitive damages. Courts in many U.S. states will order punitive damages be paid when a party is found to be seriously negligent or willful in causing damage to others.

The family has filed an appeal with the Tokyo High Court.

MMC President Osamu Masuko released a statement saying that the firm would accept the court ruling and do its utmost to prevent a recurrence and try to regain public trust.