In November 2011, a drillship operated by a foreign oil company authorized to operate in Brazil, caused the spillage of 440,000 liters of oil at sea, in the field of Frade, 370 kilometres away from the north coast of the State of Rio de Janeiro. Such accident allegedly harmed, on a large scale, the fishing in the region, and the reason why the fishermen, victims of the accident, filed an action for damages against referred company.
The lawsuit was filed in the Civil Court of Marataízes (ES), having this Court declared that lacked jurisdiction to try the case, understanding that there was a connection of this lawsuit with other lawsuits that were pending at the 17th Court of the State of Rio de Janeiro (RJ).
The 17th Civil Court of the State of Rio de Janeiro, in its turn, also understood that this Court lacked jurisdiction to try the case, given that the event would involve a product liability accident, and the reason why, according to the Consumer Defense Code (CDC), each victim would be incumbent upon choosing its/his domicile or adopt the general jurisdiction rules of the Civil Procedural Code.
The Second Section of the Superior Court of Justice (STJ) after trying the Conflict of Jurisdiction No. 143.204 - RJ (2015/0234547-0) raised by the Rio de Janeiro Court understood that the plaintiffs of the lawsuit, victims of the accident are considered consumers by comparison, as set forth in article 17 of the CDC, and the reason why, by virtue of article 100 of referred law, they would be entitled to file suits in their domicile. Due to these arguments, the State Court of the Civil Court of Marataízes (ES) was declared as having jurisdiction to try the case.
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