The Third Panel of the Superior Court of Justice (“STJ”), in a recent ruling[1], unanimously decided to annul the effects of the decision handed down in the lower court which ordered, without the right of defense, that an auditing company produce the documentation under its responsibility.
In the case analyzed by the collegiate court, the lower court literally applied article 382, paragraph 4, of the Code of Civil Procedure, which expressly states that no defense or appeal is allowed against an action for the Anticipated Production of Evidence, i.e. the auditing company, at the request of a third-party company, was obliged to produce documents and provide information that would have been its exclusive knowledge.
In the words of Justice Marco Aurélio Bellize, rapporteur of the appeal, we have: “Any legal restriction on the exercise of the party’s right of defense can in no way lead to an interpretation that completely eliminates the adversarial process”.
In this sense, the position presented by the STJ represented a milestone in ensuring the basic principles of constitutional civil procedure, adapting the restrictive interpretation of the above-mentioned paragraph and stating that, in truth, what should be extracted from the legislator’s intention would be: “The legal prohibition on the exercise of the right of defense can only be interpreted as a prohibition on the airing of certain matters that appear impertinent to the procedure regulated therein.”
From the above, we can see that this adjustment made by the Justices represents a very important step forward and undeniably prevents illegalities and the disclosure of confidential documents without any kind of consideration or defense.
Marcos Martins Advogados is attentive to new developments in case law and discussions in all areas of the Judiciary, in order to provide adequate and effective advice to its clients.
[1] REsp 2.037.088/SP
