Post by account_disabled on Mar 12, 2024 2:35:05 GMT -6
Article 723, sole paragraph, of the Civil Code, models the legal regime for the business intermediary's activity and, like all service providers, they will be responsible for reprehensible, illicit or bad faith conduct carried out in the performance of such tasks.
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123RF Notary, broker and bank must compensate victims of real estate fraud
With this understanding, the 4th Private Law Chamber of the São Paulo Court of Justice upheld the conviction of two scammers to pay compensation to a victim of real estate fraud. The judging panel also recognized the partial responsibility of the notary and the real estate broker, as well as, on a subsidiary basis, the bank involved in the deal.
In addition to material damages, corresponding Portugal Mobile Number List to the amount paid by the victim and the costs of writing and registration, the plaintiff will receive R$30,000 for moral damages. According to the records, two fraudsters, using false documents, pretended to be the owners of the property.
The victim was introduced to the fraudsters by the broker, who did not investigate the security conditions of the business. The notary, in turn, agreed to collect the signatures at the residence of one of the scammers, eliminating the chances of controlling the legality of the documents displayed by preventing the search for falsity.
The bank opened the deposit account with false documents and received amounts paid by the victim, not blocking the deposited money, even after the manager was warned that it was an ambush. "Each person participated, in their own way, so that the author suffered more than material damage with all this fraud that was committed", said the rapporteur of the ruling, judge Ênio Santarelli Zuliani.
Therefore, the broker and the notary must bear compensation for material damage, together with the embezzlers. The bank bears subsidiary responsibility, that is, it will only be possible to demand payment if the other defendants do not meet the amount of the sentence, proving their insolvency. Regarding moral damage, everyone is a joint debtor.
The magistrate stated that the victim was involved in a plot that was only possible due to the negligence of the broker, who did not take care to check the personal condition of the sellers. "The notary will respond because he did not employ the necessary means to carry out a safe and effective service and his failure was decisive in preventing the falsehood from being discovered", he added.
Still according to Ziliani, the bank must also respond within the limits of its omission, "for having opened the account that circulated the money and for having failed to take internal measures that could prevent the money from leaving the false account." The decision was made by majority vote. The selected rapporteur, judge Maurício Campos da Silva Velho, voted to acquit the notary, the broker and the bank.