Technical Terms Glossary

A

It is the answer filed by the losing party in the trial. Parties can appeal loss in 1st and 2nd instances, with no applicable appeal when the lawsuit is judged in Labor Court. Appeals can be: in 1st instance: ordinary appeal or cross appeal; or in 2nd instance, review appeal.

When trial hearing is finished, the judge grants the parties a time to present their closing arguments and/or appellee's briefs, a summary of everything that was presented. They can be presented orally or written.

C

Number of forum regional to which the process was distributed. It is the place of occurrences during 2nd instance. The circuit where the defendant is placed always prevails.

It is any asset defined by the judge as payment guarantee in cases when the company claims to be unable to pay the debt. The asset must be indicated as collateral, while the company raises funds to pay the debt. The collateral file must be linked to the properties assets file.

Judge's decision about the lawsuit. For a same process, many judgments can occur, according to embargo, appeals and/or other pleas.

If the claim was partially granted, in theory both parts can appeal the unfavorable points in the judgment. If only one party appeals, the other one can file a cross appeal, during the time for appellee's briefs, avoiding being damaged by the initial conformism. The cross appeal is not an appeal per se, but an adhesion to the appeal opportunity used by the other party.

D

Company that is being sued. It can be more than one company. In the system, the default option is the company/branch selected, unless a client is informed for this purpose.

Number of the District Court where the lawsuit is judged. It is the place where the hearings occur during 1st instance.

E

All and any value spent by the company during the Lawsuit progress. (Expenses of notary public, attorney fees, etc).

Professionals in several typed of Expert Evidence. Every technical assistant is also an expert. This professional can be hired to perform the examination and be registered as responsible expert; or be hired as technical assistant to follow-up the responsible expert job.

Expert evidences are the verification and/or check of any request from the plaintiff or the company that needs to be proved with facts. A lawsuit can be subject to several expert evidences, likewise a pleading can be examined more than once.

For Federal Supreme Court, it is the appeal that can be interposed in causes decided in single or last instance, when the appealed decision violates the Federal Constitution.

H

Each session that occurs in the Circuit, whether in District Court (1st instance) or Regional Court (2nd instance). On Labor Courts, in cases of employment dispute, hearing can be Single, Pretrial or Trial.

I

Employment Dispute Index Used for labor lawsuits indexation. It is an index very used some years ago. Since the middle of 2002, the adjustments have varied, besides IDT, but also in tables like IGP-M (inflation index), CPI (Consumer Price Index) and others. Few Judicial Districts still apply the IDT, but it can be used as a resource to apply an adjustment percentage upon the initial value.

Trial phase of the lawsuit. When it is created, the process is in 1st instance. When it is judged and appeal is applicable, the lawsuit goes to 2nd instance and gets a new numeration. After the new trial, if extraordinary appeal (or appeal proper) is applicable, the process goes to High Court of Justice and gets a third numeration.

It is all evidence, from different appeals, that coincide just with the name. The labor interlocutory appeal is applicable only upon orders that deny the appeals interposition. The appeal is directed to the legal authority that pronounces the order appealed within eight days.

J

Judicial District is the municipality where the process proceeds. A judicial district can have more than one forum, but only one of them is considered the main forum of the judicial district. A forum can have district courts depending on its size. The main forum is responsible for the processes in those judicial districts with no forum with district courts. This way, it is necessary to register the forum addresses for these cases.

However, if the process is proceeding in a municipality (jurisdiction) with labor court, this address (main forum) becomes optional, because the court direct address will be considered.

L

Lawsuit is every action filed against the company by one or more plaintiffs. Action can be: individual singular, individual multiple or collective.

It is an asset that was put up as collateral to pay the judgment and then it is taken for auction, so the company debt can be settled. The levy is determined by the judge. An asset can be levied upon in more than once lawsuit.

M

It is the answer against a judgment rendered by the judge, presented by the losing party of the action. When the motion is presented, the process returns to the judge for judgment review.

The motions for resettlement help to request a clarification or advisement about certain point of the decision. Motions for resettlement are applicable when there is obscurity or contradiction in judgment/appellate decision or if something the judge ought to pronounce himself about is overlooked. The motions interrupt the period in which any of the parties can interpose other appeal.

N

It is a document that requires the presence or documents presentation in a hearing or in any other event determined by the judge. The recipient will be the person whose presence is required, example: witness, plaintiff, defendant, etc.

O

It is each event extra related to the lawsuit that deserves notation by the legal department of the company and that will be included in the lawsuit follow-up agenda. It includes: publications, documents voucher, motions, answers, etc.

It corresponds to the civil appeal from final judgment, including all factual matter challenged. It can be interposed within eight days from judgment publication.

P

When the pleading mentions equalization with another employee of the company, the paradigm figure represents the employee to which the plaintiff is being compared. Although it is usual the application of one paradigm for each pleading, up to 3 paradigms are allowed for each one.

Information exclusively used to follow-up the process for a fast search. The creation of phases type is free, according to the legal department of each company. However, it will be associated to the phases of occurrences, hearings and judgments, since they are the most common occasions to change possible phases of the lawsuit. It is used only for queries and reports.

Employee, former employee or person pleading the employment relationship that files a labor lawsuit against the company. When the action is collective, the plaintiff is the union.

It is each plaintiff claim. Each pleading has its value, which is associated to a budget of payroll, for future values verification.

Also known as CCP, it is an entity that exists in some unions or it is formed by a group of companies from the same category. This council is responsible for proposing settlement deals to the plaintiffs before the Labor Lawsuit is registered in Labor Court. In this councils, there are no judges, but mediators. The CCPs are regulated by the law 9958/2000, and they are composed by employers representatives in equal number. The Agent figure is not necessary, since the Defendant is represented by a member of the Trade Association.

Impression of the company related to the lawsuit, for example: favorable, unfavorable, indefinite, etc. It is a free text, since there is not a default and the impression is pronounced by the main lawyer in the company.

Publications in the Federal Official Gazette about events related to the lawsuit.

R

In Single or Pretrial hearings, the defendant presents an answer. If there is not a deal, the plaintiff presents the reply.

Employee, president or partner that represents the defendant company in a hearing.

Person nominated by the plaintiff to represent him/her in a hearing, in cases of illness or serious matter. The representative must have the same occupation as the plaintiff's or belong to the same union. It is not necessary to create a file for representatives. Only the name information will be in the hearing file.

It is the judge responsible for the District Court and/or Regional where the process is proceeding. The judge must be informed in each hearing or each occurrence of publication or judgment type.

In the appellate decision rendered by the Regional Labor Court (2nd instance), it is applicable a review appeal to TST. The period is eight days from the appellate decision publication.

The review appeal is based on the following reasons:

This category includes interpretation divergences of state law, collective convention, collective bargaining or normative judgment, since they are under obligatory compliance in territorial area that exceeds the Labor Court jurisdiction that rendered the appealed decision. The review is not applicable if the jurisprudential divergence is not detailedly proved, with the inclusion of certified copies of appellate decisions or indication of authorized reporters. To validate the review, the question must have been previously treated with the motion for resettlement interposition aiming the pronunciation about the subject.

Value the defendant lawyer considers to be risk of adverse judgment.

S

Meeting generally held at the headquarters of the professional category syndicate, with participation of the parties involved in the attempt for previous settlement. The settlement session has the power of a hearing and the Settlement Term,written by the Previous Settlement Council, is an extrajudicial executive title equal to a judgment of ratification.

Settlement Term is the judgment ratified by Previous Settlement Council in settlement session, pertaining the terms agreed between the parties. Questions fixed in this deal cannot be discussed anymore.

It is a common lawyer, attorney-in-fact licensed by Brazilian Bar Association, that represents the parties during the lawsuit.

Regardless of the number of lawyers working in the lawsuit, only one lawyer from each party is nominated sponsor lawyer.

Status of the lawsuit, for example: judged, closed, in progress, etc. It is only a text information of the process for eventual queries and/or reports.

Document issued by the district court to the defendant companies, scheduling 1st audience. It is the document that informs the company about the lawsuit data.

T

W

Person called to testify in a lawsuit hearing, in favor of the defendant or the plaintiff. For each process, several witnesses can be called. The witnesses are associated to the Hearing in which they must present themselves.