Brazilian courts clarify rules for legal notifications and fines

The Court of Justice of Mato Grosso and the Superior Court of Justice (STJ) have issued rulings regarding the validity of legal notifications in Brazil.

The Court of Justice of Mato Grosso overturned a 30,000 reais fine imposed on an electric utility company. The court ruled that the mere fact that a company's lawyers accessed an electronic judicial system or filed an appeal does not constitute valid personal notification for the purpose of enforcing coercive fines. Following STJ Precedent 410, the court emphasized that formal notification is a necessary condition for such fines, and electronic access alone cannot substitute for this requirement.

Separately, the STJ Special Court addressed the hierarchy of electronic communications in Theme 1,180. The court decided that when dual notifications occur, the notification sent through the court's electronic portal prevails over publications in the Electronic Justice Gazette for the purpose of calculating procedural deadlines. This decision, based on Law 11,419/2006, aims to provide greater legal certainty and predictability in judicial proceedings.