Background
Vanessa Alessandra Gonçalves Fortes sued a financial institution for moral damages and removal of entries from the Central Bank of Brazil’s Credit Information System (SCR), alleging that she had not received advance notice of the reporting. The trial court rejected her claims and dissolved preliminary relief. Her liability for costs and R$2,000 in attorney fees was suspended because she had been granted legal aid.
The Rio Grande do Sul Court of Justice affirmed. It concluded that the reporting institution was responsible for advance notice, but that lack of notice alone did not create presumed moral damages. Because Fortes did not dispute the debt or the accuracy of the entries and had not proved embarrassment, exposure, or another actual injury, the state court found no compensable harm. It increased attorney fees to R$2,500.
Fortes filed a special appeal under article 105(III)(a) and (c) of the Federal Constitution. She alleged violations of the Civil Code and Consumer Defense Code, invoked federal credit-data statutes and CMN/Bacen regulations, and asserted conflict with decisions recognizing the SCR’s credit-restrictive character and moral damages without proof of specific injury.
The Court’s Holding
The Superior Tribunal de Justiça’s Fourth Panel unanimously declined to hear the special appeal. It did not decide as a matter of substantive law whether every failure to provide advance notice before SCR reporting does or does not produce presumed moral damages.
The court held that an alleged violation of an STJ súmula cannot support a special appeal under article 105(III)(a), applying Súmula 518. It likewise could not review alleged violations of CMN and Central Bank resolutions because those administrative regulations are not federal statutes for purposes of that constitutional provision. Reviewing the civil-liability and moral-damages arguments would require reinterpretation of contractual terms and reconsideration of facts concerning the debt’s accuracy, proof of injury, and any impairment of personality rights, which Súmulas 5 and 7 bar in a special appeal.
The asserted conflict in case law was also inadequately presented. Fortes did not provide the required analytical comparison demonstrating factual similarity or properly identify the official repositories for the cited decisions, as required by article 1,029(1) of the Code of Civil Procedure and article 255(1) of the STJ’s Internal Rules. The court added that the barriers preventing review under constitutional paragraph (a) also foreclosed review of the same issues under paragraph (c). It increased the previously awarded attorney fees by 5%, subject to statutory limits and any applicable legal-aid protection.
Key Takeaways
- The STJ disposed of the case on admissibility grounds and did not establish a categorical substantive rule governing moral damages for every unnotified SCR entry.
- A special appeal cannot rest on an alleged violation of an STJ súmula or of CMN/Bacen regulations, because neither qualifies as federal legislation under article 105(III)(a) of the Constitution.
- Súmulas 5 and 7 prevent the STJ from revisiting liability when doing so would require contractual interpretation or a new assessment of facts and evidence.
- A claimed conflict among decisions requires a detailed comparison showing factual similarity and proper identification or submission of the authorities relied upon.
Why It Matters
The decision underscores the narrow scope of Brazil’s special-appeal procedure. Even consumer claims raising questions about notice before SCR reporting may not reach substantive review when they depend on regulations, contractual interpretation, or reconsideration of the evidentiary record.
For practitioners, the ruling also highlights the need to distinguish the lower court’s merits determination from the STJ’s procedural disposition. Here, the state court’s judgment remained in place because the special appeal was not cognizable, not because the STJ definitively resolved whether lack of advance notice can never support presumed moral damages.