Well, sure thing, noone can predict earthquakes. But the same is true for claiming that there won't be one.
Prior to the earthquake on April 6th, 2009, there have been several smaller ones. On March 30th, there was a quake with a magnitude of 4.1. People were really concerned that something was about to happen shortly. So the day after these scientists claimed, that there won't be an earthquake in the near future. This was surely to calm the public. However, they were wrong. And according to the court, they didn't make their point clear enough, that they are basically unable to make such predictions.
Although I don't follow the sentence, I somehow get the judge's point.
Prior to the earthquake on April 6th, 2009, there have been several smaller ones. On March 30th, there was a quake with a magnitude of 4.1. People were really concerned that something was about to happen shortly. So the day after these scientists claimed, that there won't be an earthquake in the near future. This was surely to calm the public. However, they were wrong. And according to the court, they didn't make their point clear enough, that they are basically unable to make such predictions.
Although I don't follow the sentence, I somehow get the judge's point.
More info here [german]: http://podcast-mp3.dradio.de/podcast/2012/10/22/dlf_20121022...