Cintia Solé
Lawyer at Marcos Martins Advogados
The STJ overturned a ruling by the TJSP that recognized as valid the postal service of the defendant, an individual, whose acknowledgement of receipt was received and signed by a third party, both in the knowledge phase and in the enforcement of the judgment. The TJSP held that the postal service was valid because it was sent to the defendant’s business address.
The 3rd Panel of the STJ, in the judgment of REsp 1.840.466, reported by Justice Paulo de Tarso Sanseverino, held that service to enforce a judgment must be personal and, when by post, depends on receipt by the debtor/citizen himself, under penalty of violation of article 248, §1 of the Code of Civil Procedure, even if the defendant has been defaulted in the knowledge phase of the process.
In this sense, Justice Sanseverino explained the interpretative limitation of the procedural statute with regard to the validity of the summons in light of the provisions of article 280 of the Code of Civil Procedure.
Thus, the TJSP’s ruling was overturned, recognizing the nullity of the defendant’s postal summons and, consequently, allowing the debtor to file a monitory motion.
The Marcos Martins law firm is attentive to new developments in the jurisprudence of the courts in Brazil, in order to provide adequate and effective advice to our clients.
