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The CCJ - Senate Constitution and Justice Committee approved, this Wednesday, the 15th, the project that does not require proof of a local holiday to count the period when filing an appeal with the Judiciary. Already approved by the Chamber of Deputies, the project received a favorable vote from the rapporteur, senator Eduardo  and now goes to the plenary for analysis.

 

PL 4,563/21 revokes the paragraph in CPC/15 according to which, in order for the occurrence of a local holiday to be considered in counting the period for appeals in the Judiciary, it is necessary for the appellant to include, in the appeal itself, proof of this holiday.

 

"This bill aims to guarantee citizens that they do not lose the right that is being discussed in their case, of which they are part, due to the fact that the local holiday was not proven at the time of the appeal. How many times have we Have you ever received people who lost an important case in their lives because the lawyer made a mistake, for example, by not checking that they had a holiday on time?"

 

The rapporteur accepted a suggestion presented by senator Fabiano  to reduce bureaucracy and allow proof of holiday to be presented at a future opportunity.

 

The change, according to G, determines that, if the appellant does not prove the occurrence of a local holiday when filing the appeal, the Court may order the correction of the formal defect at a new opportunity or even disregard this omission if the information already appear in the electronic process.

 

In justification, the author of the project, former deputy Carlos , highlighted that the STJ decided that the lack of proof of the occurrence of a local holiday constitutes an irremediable defect, so that the appeal cannot even be accepted. Therefore, appeals that, taking into account the local holiday, are presented at the end of the deadline, will be considered out of date if they do not prove the holiday.

 

For Girão, this measure is excessively strict, especially because the lack of proof of the local holiday is, in his opinion, a minor defect, which could be corrected.

 

"A simple error in counting the deadline cannot harm the progress of a case and, consequently, the right of a citizen, who will not have his request evaluated by the Court due to carelessness when counting the deadline, being prevented from having the merits of the your request evaluated by the judge", argued the rapporteur in his opinion.

 

CCJ holds meeting with 20 items. Among them, PL 4,563/21, which does not require proof of holiday when presenting an appeal. (Image: Pedro 

Discussion at the STJ

 

The issue of proving holidays is a recurring topic at the STJ. In 2021, ministers of the Special Court of the STJ, by a majority of 7 to 5, decided that the decision they made in 2019, in which it was required, for the purposes of procedural deadlines, proof of the existence of a local holiday at the time of filing appeals , only valid for Carnival Monday.

 

In another process, from May 2022, the 4th class understood that, to prove the absence of forensic proceedings on Corpus Christi day - which must be done by the party at the time of filing the appeal -, it is not enough to present the calendar available on the local court website. In the case analyzed by the collegiate, a monocratic decision by the presidency of the STJ was contested, which considered an appeal against the ruling handed down by the local court to be untimely.

 

In April 2023, the Special Court of the STJ, unanimously, recognized the possibility of proving a holiday and the suspension of forensic work based solely on the calendar available on the local Court's website.

 

"There is no way to deny the officiality and reliability of the judicial calendar made available by the courts on the internet, for the purpose of proving the suspension of forensic proceedings, to influence the counting of procedural deadlines. Therefore, it is due that the party should add it to the case file, in a timely manner, in order to prove the timeliness of the appeal", stated the rapporteur of the embargoes, minister Raul Araújo.

 

In another decision, from September 2023, the 3rd panel concluded that the local holidays provided for in the law on judicial organization of the Federal District and the Territories (law 11,697/08) do not need to be proven when filing the appeal, as they are of Federal law that organizes the TJ/DF. In this case, the holidays in question deserve treatment equivalent to national holidays.

 

In November 2023, the 2nd class understood that November 20th, Black Consciousness Day, is not considered a national holiday, but rather a local holiday, which must be proven at the time of filing the appeal.