PORTUGAL Law and Practice Contributed by: Rita Samoreno Gomes and Petra Carreira, PLMJ
10. Appeal 10.1 Levels of Appeal or Review to a Litigation As a rule, there are two levels of appeal: to the appellate court and to the Supreme Court of Justice. A party can appeal to the appellate court when the value of the claim is higher than EUR5,000 and the decision is unfavourable to the appealing party in an amount that is more than EUR2,500. The appellate court decides on matters of fact and law. Provided that certain requirements are met, a party can appeal a decision rendered by the appellate court to the Supreme Court of Jus- tice when the value of the claim is greater than EUR30,000 and the decision is unfavourable to the appealing party in an amount that is greater than EUR15,000. The Supreme Court of Justice decides on matters of law only. There is also the possibility for the parties to appeal to the Constitutional Court when all ordi- nary appeals have been exhausted and issues of a constitutional nature are at stake. The general rule is that the appeals do not stay the proceedings. However, when filing the appeal, the appealing party may request that the appeal has a suspensory effect because the immediate enforcement of the judgment would cause considerable damage. If this is the case, the appealing party must provide security. The attribution of suspensory effect to the appeal depends on the authorisation of the court.
The recognition and enforcement of judgments rendered in other foreign countries are performed under Portuguese civil procedural law, without prejudice to the provisions of international trea- ties, conventions or specific legislation. To have effect and be enforced in Portugal, non- EU judgments are subject to a specific procedure by a Portuguese court to review and confirm them. The court with jurisdiction for this is the appellate court of the place where the defendant is domiciled or has its registered office. As a rule, the recognition of the foreign judgment is formal in nature and the court will not review the merits of the case. However, this may hap- pen, for instance, if the recognition of the foreign judgment would lead to a result that is incompat- ible with Portuguese public policy. The recognition proceedings begin with the fil- ing of the initial application. The plaintiff may request the production of evidence. The judge will order the notice of the case to be served on the defendant, who has 15 days to respond. If the defendant files a response, the plaintiff will be granted ten days to respond. If no response is filed by the defendant, it is deemed to have admitted the facts alleged by the plaintiff in the initial application. The court will then make its decision, which may be appealed by either party. As soon as the decision on recognition becomes final and unappealable, it can be enforced in Portugal as if it were a domestic judgment.
1165 CHAMBERS.COM
Powered by FlippingBook