In the film The Seventh Seal (Det sjunde inseglet, Ingmar Bergman, 1956), we are introduced to a knight who, in an attempt to save peasants and a circus troupe from the scourge of the plague, plays chess with Death in order to buy time for the villagers. In the end, however, the game comes at a cost, and it is clear that the game did not prevent the real evil.
Today, many suppliers (in Portuguese, “fornecedores”), a concept defined in the Brazilian Consumer Protection Code, try to wear consumers down, charging them excessive amounts and robbing each one of their valuable time. A chess game that, so far, has paid off for those seeking to uphold consumer rights. To clarify,
a supplier is any natural or legal person, public or private, domestic or foreign, as well as depersonalized legal entities, that engages in the production, assembly, creation, construction, transformation, import, export, distribution, or marketing of products or the provision of services. (Law 8.078/90, Consumer Protection Code, Art. 3, caput)
To illustrate, imagine, dear reader, that your phone bill showed an incorrect charge every month—a small amount, such as $50— and each time, to have the incorrect charge removed, you had to stay on the phone for 30 minutes or an hour until the charge was finally removed. That small amount ended up costing you, over time, something much more expensive!
Multiply that by 4, 5, or 6 times, repeating the process every month, to avoid the claim that these were merely isolated errors. This would constitute a new fact—a specific type of damage—which, in Brazil, according to Marcos Dessaune’s doctrinal thesis, has been termed “Temporal Damage.”
The possibilities for such damages to occur and be detected are numerous. As DESSAUNE rightly points out:
It so happens that countless self-employed and independent professionals, companies of various sizes, and the State itself—instead of providing quality service to consumers —thereby satisfying their needs, desires, and expectations, promoting their well-being, contributing to their dignified existence, and freeing up their productive resources—routinely fail to fulfill their mission due to lack of preparation, inattention, negligence, and/or bad faith. In other words, countless providers, instead of fulfilling their primary original legal duties—regarding quality and suitability, quality and safety, information, good faith, refraining from abusive market practices, and indemnification—violate the law on a daily basis, either through negligence or intentionally.
GUGLINSKI adds that
Delays and postponements are commonplace in today’s world. It cannot be denied that every time something is delayed or postponed—unless it is death itself that is delayed—there is a sense that a piece of life has been lost.
(…) In the legal sphere, time is considered a parameter for the creation, extinction, modification, acquisition, and exercise of rights—for example, the legal concepts of statute of limitations, expiration, usufruct, and preclusion, among others.
Time can, therefore, be viewed both as a legal fact (giving rise to various legal phenomena, such as the statute of limitations) and as a legal interest. Time, as a legal interest, matters to each of us, especially when we consider that it is scarce and constantly diminishing. From the moment we are born, we are on an irreversible path toward death, and in this space between birth and death, we ceaselessly seek happiness. The Virginia Declaration of Rights (1776) already established that:
Section 1. That all men are by nature equally free and independent and have certain inherent rights, of which, when they enter into a state of society, they cannot, by any compact, deprive or divest their posterity; namely, the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the means of acquiring and possessing property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety.
To unduly deprive someone of time is, ultimately, to deprive them of the right to at least pursue happiness.
There is no full life, no perfect existence, if a person cannot seek to be happy. Being happy, specifically, is the result of various factors that go beyond the subjective realm, but no one has the right to unlawfully interfere with this pursuit. This pursuit may be halted—in addition to by unforeseen circumstances—by legal provisions, legal limits, or poor choices, but never by the conduct of third parties not authorized by law.
And it is worse when such conduct is intended solely to create an obstacle for the individual, to make them give up their purpose out of exhaustion, or to profit from the waste of another’s time. This last point is the focus of this short essay.
Temporal damage—a type of non-pecuniary damage—is still in the early stages of debate in Brazil. So much so that many judges treat it as part of moral damages. The translation was not performed so that the wording of the decisions cited below would not be altered.
RECURSO INOMINADO. AÇÃO DE INDENIZAÇÃO POR DANO TEMPORAL E DANO MORAL. SENTENÇA DE PARCIAL PROCEDÊNCIA. DIREITO DO CONSUMIDOR. TELEFONIA. INSCRIÇÃO INDEVIDA NO CADASTRO DO SPC/SERASA. DANO MORAL. PLEITO DE MAJORAÇÃO DA INDENIZAÇÃO POR DANO MORAL E INCLUSÃO DO DANO TEMPORAL. DANO MORAL SUFICIENTE PARA REPARAR OS DANOS EXTRAPATRIMONIAIS SOFRIDOS. QUANTUM FIXADO EM VALOR IRRISÓRIO. MAJORAÇÃO. RECURSO CONHECIDO E PARCIALMENTE PROVIDO. A jurisprudência do e. Superior Tribunal de Justiça é firme no sentido de que o dano moral, decorrente de inscrição irregular em cadastros de inadimplentes, configura-se in re ipsa, ou seja, é presumido e não carece de prova da sua existência (STJ AgRg no AREsp 179.301/SP). A indenização por dano moral ao consumidor é suficiente para compensar o dano temporal, descabendo a reparação autônoma deste dano. No tocante ao quantum indenizatório fixado em R$ 1.000,00 entendo que o valor é irrisório e não guarda relação com os critérios de razoabilidade e proporcionalidade. Recurso conhecido e parcialmente provido. (TJ-MT 10139966420208110002 MT, Relator: LUIS APARECIDO BORTOLUSSI JUNIOR, Data de Julgamento: 27/04/2021, Turma Recursal Única, Data de Publicação: 30/04/2021)
APELAÇÃO CÍVEL. TOI. RELAÇÃO DE CONSUMO. ENERGIA ELÉTRICA. COBRANÇAS DE VALOR REFERENTE À RECUPERAÇÃO DE ENERGIA CONTESTADAS. DANO TEMPORAL. DANO MORAL CONFIGURADO. Sentença que julgou parcialmente procedentes os pedidos para declarar a nulidade do TOI e a inexigibilidade de dívida dele decorrente. Julgou improcedente o pedido de indenização por danos morais. Condenou a ré ao pagamento das despesas processuais e de honorários advocatícios fixados em 10% sobre o valor da condenação. Restituição integral da verba indevidamente cobrada, em dobro, que se mostra devida. Má-fé que se verifica da postura reiterada da concessionária apelada que lida com a questão diuturnamente e - a despeito de conhecer todos os regulamentos da ANEEL e de sofrer inúmeras condenações por fatos semelhantes - permanece a realizar as cobranças a título de consumo recuperado sem que siga fielmente os procedimentos previstos pela Agência Reguladora. Dano temporal. Dano moral amplamente caracterizado. Precedentes nesta Corte Estadual. Quantum Reparatório. Utilização de método bifásico para arbitramento do dano. Valorização do interesse jurídico lesado e das circunstâncias do caso concreto e na função punitiva (retributivo-preventiva). Verba reparatória fixada em R$ 15.000,00 (quinze mil reais). PROVIMENTO DO RECURSO. (TJ-RJ - APL: 00216779020198190204, Relator: Des(a). ALCIDES DA FONSECA NETO, Data de Julgamento: 21/10/2021, DÉCIMA SEGUNDA CÂMARA CÍVEL, Data de Publicação: 25/10/2021)
In several courts, first-instance judgments commonly recognize temporal damage, though they still tend to subsume temporal damage under the category of moral damages, treating them as a subset thereof. As an example of the minority view, the following judgment effectively addresses the autonomy of temporal damage.
Por oportuno, ressalta-se a posição deste Magistrado no sentido de que além de ser possível a reparação pelos danos moral e material, há nítida autonomia na reparação do dano temporal (Processo n. 0000265-21.2016.8.04.5800, Juiz de Direito Rafael Almeida Cró Brito – 1ª Vara de Maués/AM, j. 11/8/2016, g. N.).
It is necessary to recognize the importance of time as a legal interest and, more than that, to recognize that an infringement upon time—particularly in the context of a profit-driven tort—must be subject to severe punishment.
The profit-driven offense, examined in Brazil in a prominent work by Nelson Rosenvald, involves an unlawful act that not only causes harm to the victim but, more importantly, yields a benefit to the perpetrator. Profiting from the suffering of others, profiting from the loss of others. This is not always the case with unlawful acts; therefore, not all unlawful acts are profitable. When a motor vehicle, due to the driver’s negligence, collides with another, there is harm to both parties, and the harm suffered by the victim—caused by the perpetrator’s negligence (Art. 186 of the Brazilian Civil Code)—constitutes a tort in general.
On the other hand, there are unlawful acts that not only cause a loss to one party (the victim) but, at the same time, generate a profit for the other party (the perpetrator). When a service provider, for example, claims a non-existent debt on a consumer’s phone bill—and repeats this on numerous other bills for thousands of other consumers—there is a clear gain for the company at the expense of the individuals’ losses. To have such a debt removed, each consumer will have to spend part of their valuable time, costing them far more than the debt itself. But it is a matter of honor not to pay what is unduly charged, and many embark on the arduous journey of trying to have these irregular debts removed through dealings with customer service centers.
A large number of consumers will not devote their time to removing the undue charge from the bill, thereby generating an undue profit for the provider. In short, as they say in Brazil, “if you run, the beast catches you; if you stay, the beast eats you.”
The development of a Latin doctrine of temporal damage could give it extraordinary strength, reestablishing bridges of rights that were autonomously and unduly severed by language. Brazil and Argentina—brothers fighting the same battles and suffering the same pain—need to lead the effort to establish a comprehensive Latin Consumer Law. And this essay seeks—beyond merely indoctrinating a way of thinking, given this writer’s limitations—to call upon all our brothers and sisters to join a great march in pursuit of a Consumer Law, and perhaps a Civil Law, common to all of us, the peoples of a forgotten America south of the equator!
Ubá, Minas Gerais, Brazil, fall of 2022.
Bibliography:
BRASIL. TJAM. Proceso n. 0000265-21.2016.8.04.5800, Juez de Direito Rafael Almeida Cró Brito – 1ª Vara de Maués/AM, fecha de juzgado 11/8/2016, g. N.
BRASIL. TJMT. Apelo 10139966420208110002 MT, Relator: LUIS APARECIDO BORTOLUSSI JUNIOR, fecha de juzgado: 27/04/2021, Turma de Recursos Única, fecha de Publicación: 30/04/2021.
BRASIL. TJRJ. Apelo 00216779020198190204, Relator: Des(a). ALCIDES DA FONSECA NETO, fecha de juzgado: 21/10/2021, DÉCIMA SEGUNDA CÂMARA CÍVEL, Data de Publicación: 25/10/2021.
DESSAUNE, Marcos. Teoria Aprofundada do desvio produtivo do consumidor: um panorama. in Dano Temporal – o tempo como valor jurídico. Gustavo Borges e Maurílio Casas Maia, Coords 2.ed. São Paulo: Tirant Lo Blanch, 2019. 398p. pp. 101-112. p.103.
GUGLINSKI, Vitor Vilela. Responsabilidade Civil do Estado pela perda do tempo do administrado. . in Dano Temporal – o tempo como valor jurídico. Gustavo Borges e Maurílio Casas Maia, Coords 2.ed. São Paulo: Tirant Lo Blanch, 2019. 398p. pp. 253-280. p.254.
ROSENVALD, Nelson. A responsabilidade civil pelo ilícito lucrativo. Salvador: Editora Juspodivm, 2019. 556p.