PORTUGAL Law and Practice Contributed by: Rita Samoreno Gomes, Petra Carreira and Maria Berta Jerónimo, PLMJ
3. Procedure for Bringing Collective Redress/Class Actions 3.1 Mechanisms for Bringing Collective Redress/Class Actions The procedure for bringing a claim follows the general rules for civil and commercial proceedings. Territorial jurisdiction of the Portuguese courts must be estab- lished under: • the Recast Brussels Regulation; • other applicable international treaties; or • the applicable national rules (ie, the domestic rules on jurisdiction set out in the Civil Procedure Code). Portuguese law governing the organisation of the court system sets out the cases over which each court has jurisdiction. There is no court in Portugal with specialised jurisdic- tion to hear class actions. 3.2 Overview of Procedure The process for initiating a collective redress suit in Portugal follows the general rules of civil proceedings. However, some specific aspects of class actions will be highlighted below where applicable. The initial stage of the proceedings consists of the parties’ written pleadings, namely the statement of claim and the statement of defence. Claims are started by filing them via the Portuguese e-court platform ( Citius ). The claim must set out the facts of the case and be substantiated on reason- able grounds, taking into account the specific circum- stances of each case. Failure to comply with this may give rise to an invitation by the court to perfect the claim or ultimately lead to the claim being dismissed. Under the specific class action rules, the court can issue an initial dismissal judgment if it determines that the claim is clearly unfounded and cannot proceed as a class action, or is unlikely to succeed. The public prosecutor is heard by the court at this stage before a decision is made, and the court can also make further inquiries either at its own motion or at the request of the Public Prosecutor’s Office or of the claimant. This
is an exception to the general rule in civil proceed- ings, including multi-party/joint proceedings, where the merits of the case are normally heard only at the conclusion of the proceedings, after evidence has been presented. The initial dismissal judgment does not have a fixed timeline and may occur even after the defence has been filed. After the claim has been filed, and provided that it is not preliminarily dismissed, a specific stage of class action proceedings is that class members are notified via the judicial online platform and national newspa- pers of the context of the class action and must, within a given deadline set by the court: • exercise their right to opt out, as mentioned in 2.3 Definition of Collective Redress/Class Actions ; or • decide to actively intervene in the proceedings by joining as parties. Without prejudice, class members can opt out until the end of the production of evidence (ie, end of the trial hearing). After service of process, the defendant must present its statement of defence, which must include all facts and legal arguments supporting the defence, by a specified deadline. If the defendant makes a coun- terclaim, the claimant will be allowed to submit a defence. In some cases, it is also possible for the parties to submit additional pleadings at a later stage if: • new facts relevant to the case arise; or • the parties become aware of such facts after the initial pleadings. As a rule, the pleadings stage is followed by a pre- liminary hearing, which is similar to a case manage- ment conference. However, a preliminary hearing is not mandatory and is at the court’s discretion. If the case proceeds to trial after the preliminary hear- ing (which is usually the case), the court will list the facts on which evidence must be produced by the parties.
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