The 3rd Panel of the Superior Court of Justice (STJ) decided to rule out the untimeliness of an appeal, caused by the erroneous indication of the deadline in the electronic system of the Minas Gerais State Court of Justice (TJ/MG). As decided by the collegiate body, in these situations, recognizing the timeliness of the appeal means honoring the principle of the appellant’s objective good faith.
This is because, in the original case, the Minas Gerais Public Prosecutor’s Office filed an action for the removal of family power and annulment of birth registration against the mother and alleged father of a minor.
The magistrate at first instance upheld the request and ordered that the minor be removed from the family. In this context, the mother and alleged father filed an appeal against the judgment, but the appeal was not even heard by the court of origin, on the grounds that it had been requested after the legal time limit.
Justice Marco Aurélio Bellizze explained that, in the case of the removal of family power, the parties have ten calendar days to file an appeal, as provided for in articles 155 to 197 of the Statute of the Child and Adolescent (ECA). However, the time limit informed by the TJ/MG system was different.
Although the appeal was filed ten calendar days after publication of the judgment, this occurred before the expiry of the deadline indicated by the TJ/MG’s electronic system.
Thus, the 3rd Panel held that the appellants were misled by the TJ/MG system, which counted the appeal period incorrectly and, therefore, ordered the case to be returned to the court of origin so that the case could be heard.
In this sense, the Rapporteur pointed out that the dismissal of untimely appeals, in these cases, should be recognized in compliance with the objective good faith that should guide the relationship between individuals and public authorities.
This decision has a direct impact on procedural deadlines. Even though these issues are duly regulated by the Brazilian legal system, for example the Code of Civil Procedure, as in the case above, there are situations in which the decisions handed down by the Court overrule national legislation.
We are attentive to new developments in case law and discussions in all areas of the Judiciary in order to provide our clients with appropriate and effective advice.
