The Third Panel of the Superior Court of Justice (STJ) held that the initiation of arbitral proceedings is sufficient to interrupt the statute of limitations, even in cases predating the express inclusion of this rule by Law No. 13,129/2015, which amended the Brazilian Arbitration Act.
The dispute arose in an action for annulment of an arbitral award, where the key issue was whether an arbitral proceedings of 2007 (prior to the legislative reform) had interrupted the statute of limitation period. At the time, there was no express statutory provision establishing that arbitration would interrupt the statute of limitation. The STJ, however, found that the interruptive effect was already compatible with the legal framework prior to its codification under Article 19, § 2 of the Arbitration Act.
According to the reporting Justice, Ricardo Villas Bôas Cueva, arbitration constitutes a legitimate form of dispute resolution and must therefore produce the same legal effects as state adjudication, including the interruption of the statute of limitation period. He emphasized that “the party’s unequivocal initiative to seek protection of its rights by means legally available, even without state intervention, suffices to eliminate the presumption of inertia.”
The Court confirmed the applicability of Article 202 of the Civil Code and concluded that the statute of limitations was effectively interrupted upon the commencement of the first arbitration. The statute of limitation period resumed only after the last procedural act capable of producing such an effect.
(Superior Court of Justice, Special Appeal No. 1,981,715/GO, Third Panel, Reporting Justice Minister Ricardo Villas Bôas Cueva, judgment dated September 17, 2024)