on 29 october 2003 six race sponsors and promoters including tv tokyo, vicic and fuji speedway were found guilty of gross negligence. the success of the lawsuit was due to the recorded tv coverage of the incident which was shown in court. the responsible parties were ordered to pay ¥90 million ($800,000 us) compensation for pain and suffering, on the grounds that their first aid response was poorly prepared and their race marshals were poorly trained. the judge, tsuyoshi ono, decided that organizers neglected their responsibility, as ota was left in his burning vehicle for longer than the 30 seconds in which he should have been out of the car. the organizers had failed to take sufficient precautionary measures, such as having fire engines on standby as is required to extinguish fires and rescue drivers in 30 seconds or less.