‎Brazil News

Judge Cláudia Longobardi Campana, from the 8th Civil Court of Regional Court II of São Paulo, ordered a man to delete posts in which he accused Ultragaz of torture due to the noise of the gas sales truck. Campana understood that he acted “in excess of his right to freedom of expression

of thought.”

 

In the action, Ultragaz states that, in mid-2021, the man began to congest the company's telephone line with more than a thousand daily telephone calls, through some automated dialing system. When looking for him, Ultragaz discovered that he was dissatisfied with the sound emitted by cars that sell gas on the streets.

 

The company says that it tried to contact him in a friendly manner to try to resolve the issue in the best possible way, but that he was always irreducible, continuing with his uninterrupted calls and congesting the telephone lines. He states that he filed police reports against him, but that this also had no effect.

 

 

In another action, the man was ordered to stop calling daily and incessantly. However, he continued with complaints on other channels such as Procon and Reclame Aqui. Furthermore, he associated the company with the practice of torture and the dictatorship.

 

In action 0022513-87.2022.8.26.0002, the man was ordered to pay compensation for material damage to another Ultragaz dealer, as he threw a stone at one of the vehicles and damaged the windshield.

 

In another process, the company requested that he be ordered to delete the posts “especially those that associate the Author with the practice of torture, precisely on the ‘Reclame Aqui’ and ‘Linkedin” portals. He asked him to stop the mass activation of service channels and publicly recant, as an educational measure; in addition to compensation for moral damages.

 

In his defense, the man claims that the company daily and tirelessly produces noise pollution with its jingle and that since 2019 he has been trying to resolve the issue amicably.

 

It maintains that the decibels of the jingle “far exceed what is permitted by law, as it causes damage to the health of the residents of that location, causing stress, deafness, irritation, which without a doubt, the author has provoked in the contestant, who is a sick, elderly person, suffering from kidney disease, heart disease, hypertension, diabetes, as well as suffering from gout”. He further argues that “there are 5 other gas distributors and resellers, all of which respect the laws, except the author”.

 

When analyzing the case, judge Cláudia Longobardi Campana understood that “there must be harmonious coexistence between fundamental rights, in this case, the free expression of thought and the right to honor and image. Such rights must be weighed according to the specific case, so that they coexist harmoniously, bearing in mind that there is no absolute right”.

 

The judge accepted Ultragaz's request and ordered the man to delete posts that mention the practice of torture and link the gas company with the dictatorship. Campana denied the request for retraction and the request for compensation for moral damages since “the author does not prove the alleged damage to her reputation before third parties, nor even that there was in fact any actual damage to her image and credibility in the market”.

 

Regarding the company's request that the man not activate Ultragaz's customer service channels, the judge highlighted “that this measure would indeed constitute a restriction on the author's right to demonstrate, which, at this point, must prevail and be preserved”.

 

When contacted, company stated that it would not comment. The process is being processed under number 1045571-68.2023.8.26.0002.