Superior Court of Justice reinforces favorable decision for rural producers in cases of judicial reorganization.

The Superior Court of Justice (STJ) has once again ruled in favor of the argument that rural producers can request judicial reorganization without being required to register with the Commercial Registry. Yesterday, the Third Panel of the court analyzed a special appeal from a farmer and established the precedent that allows the request for judicial reorganization, valid for all courts in the country. Proof of business activity must be based solely on the agricultural activity itself.

The issue had already been judged, with the same decision, in November 2019 by the Fourth Panel of the Superior Court of Justice (STJ). Now, with analysis by the other panel that deals with private law in the court, the understanding is "settled" and will guide the proceedings in progress in lower courts. The measure also prevents the issue from being the subject of new lawsuits at that level.

“All courts in the country are now instructed to follow this jurisprudential guidance regardless of the individual positions of lower courts. The Mato Grosso court insisted on the argument that producers are not entrepreneurs and could not undergo judicial reorganization. Many became indebted and now they will be able to file for judicial reorganization and return to production,” lawyer Euclides Ribeiro Silva Júnior, from the ERS Group, who worked on the case, told Valor. The argument had been under discussion for seven years at the Superior Court of Justice (STJ).

The issue remains under discussion in a bill recently approved by the Chamber of Deputies and awaiting a vote in the Senate. Banks and trading companies oppose the proposal and warn of a possible increase in credit risk for producer financing due to the rise in the number of bankruptcy filings in recent years. Whether or not to include debts linked to Rural Product Certificates (CPRs) remains at the center of the debate.

In the opinion approved yesterday by the Superior Court of Justice (STJ), the rapporteur of the case, Minister Marco Aurélio Belizze, highlighted that registration with the commercial registry is absolutely unnecessary for a rural entrepreneur to demonstrate the regularity of their professional activity, which can be proven in other ways.

Source: Valor Econômico