Court orders Corinthians to allow more recent members to vote on Statute Reform
By Henrique Vigliotti and Larissa Beppler | Central do Timão newsroom
The Court of São Paulo granted this Monday (8) an injunction that obliges Corinthians to allow the participation of members with less than five years of association in the Extraordinary General Assembly scheduled for June 20th, which will deliberate on the proposed reform of the club's statute.
The decision was handed down by judge Guilherme Augusto de Oliveira Barna, of the 4th Civil Court of the Tatuapé Regional Forum, in the context of an action filed by six members of the club who questioned the validity of article 44 of the current statute. The provision restricts the right to vote at general assemblies to members admitted more than five years ago.
Photo: José Manoel Idalgo/Agência Corinthians
The authors of the action claimed that, although they are regular and paying members, they would be prevented from participating in the vote on the statutory reform because they had joined the association less recently. According to them, the restriction violates principles of equality between members set out in the Civil Code and compromises the legitimacy of a deliberation that will define the club's future institutional rules.
The judge understood that there are sufficient elements to recognize, on a preliminary basis, the probability of the right alleged by the members. In the decision, the judge highlighted that the exclusion of members in good standing from voting in a meeting intended precisely to change the statute may contravene the principle of equality between members of the association.
He also highlighted that the legislation gives the General Assembly exclusive powers to modify the statute and cited provisions of the General Sports Law that encourage democratic management practices and broad participation of members in sports entities.
"Voting constitutes the intangible core of democratic participation in the association", wrote the magistrate in the decision to which Central do Timão had access.
In addition to guaranteeing the right of participation of the six authors of the action, the injunction determines that the effects of the decision be extended to all members who are in a similar situation. In this way, members admitted up to the date of calling the Extraordinary General Assembly, held on May 8, will be able to vote, as long as they are in full enjoyment of their statutory rights and their financial obligations are up to date.
The decision also establishes that Corinthians carry out a double counting of votes during the meeting: one considering the votes of the members benefiting from the injunction and the other disregarding them. The objective is to preserve the usefulness of the judicial process until the final judgment of the action.
Another point determined by the Court is the wide dissemination of the decision to members. The club must publish the content of the injunction on its official website and send communication by email to all registered members within three days after the notice. In case of non-compliance, a daily fine of R$20,000 was set, initially limited to R$500,000.
In the judge's assessment, the risk of damage is imminent, since the Statutory Reform Assembly is scheduled for June 20th. According to the decision, preventing the participation of these members could result in a deliberation with a potential bias in representation and make possible subsequent repairs difficult.
The action will continue to be processed in court. Corinthians will still be summoned to present its objection within 15 working days, while the merits of the process, which discusses the validity of the statutory clause that restricts voting to members with more than five years of membership, will still be analyzed later.
Corinthians' statutory reform has been debated for months behind the club's political scenes and has already been reviewed by the Deliberative Council. To come into force, however, the text still needs to be ratified by the members at the General Assembly. Among the main points under discussion are structural changes in the club's administration, including new governance rules, mechanisms for expanding member participation in decision-making processes and the possibility of transforming Corinthians football into a Football Anonymous Society (SAF).
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Source: Timao Central