Débora Zampier (2) and Roberta Lopes Reporters Agencia Brasil

Brasilia – At the beginning of 2010, the Judiciary branch set itself two ambitious goals: it was going to rule on all lawsuits dating from before 2006. And it was also going to reduce operational costs.

According to a report by the Applied Economics Research Institute (“Ipea”), final judgments were issued in only 44.5% of cases that went to court before 2006 and Judiciary branch operating expenses rose 17% in 2010.

The bright note was a certain alacrity in judging more recent cases. 2010 was an election year and the electoral courts managed to judge all the cases they got in 2010, plus a small backlog from prior years. The same was true in appeal cases (“tribunais superiors”) and Labor Courts.

However, a serious problem remains in collecting fines and other assessments (“execuções fiscais e não fiscais”). There are reportedly 23.5 million of these cases outstanding. In 2010, only 40% of those cases were dealt with.

On the average, these cases take 2,989 days to resolve in court – that is, eight years, two months and nine days. The average cost of such a lawsuit is R$4,368, while the average amount involved is R$22,500. Slightly less than 60% of these cases are filed by federal authorities (“Procuradoria-Geral da Fazenda Nacional”) or (“Procuradoria-Geral Federal”). At the same time, around 30% of all lawsuits seeking payment come from liberal professional associations (they may be after dues from members; tuition; or some kind of fees).

Interestingly, the Ipea survey found that court functionaries are often so deeply involved in procedural or bureaucratic tasks that they do not have any interest in resolving cases. In other words, their main concern is with the process rather than the final result. “This is a question of mentality,” says Alexandre dos Santos Cunha, a research expert at Ipea. “The team that deal with these lawsuits must be committed to results – that is, a final result. The federal judiciary branch has highly qualified people but unfortunately their talent is often wasted.”

Allen Bennett – translator/editor The News in English

Link - Judiciário gasta demais e não consegue cumprir metas traçadas para 2010

Link - Processo de cobrança de dívida na Justiça leva em média oito anos para ser concluído