Photo: Supremo Tribunal Federal.
Brazil’s Supreme Federal Court ruled on Oct. 14 that judicial deposits must be adjusted using the indices established by law during the period in which the money was held. The court rejected adding “inflationary gaps” from economic plans of the 1980s and 1990s to those deposits. The decision in Extraordinary Appeal 1,141,156, known as Theme 1,016, will guide other cases on the same issue.
The 7–2 majority adopted the position presented by Justice Flávio Dino. Justices Edson Fachin and Kassio Nunes Marques dissented; Justice Luiz Fux did not participate because he was disqualified. The court held that judicial deposits have a public-law, statutory character and do not automatically receive the correction standards applicable to contractual savings accounts. It also said courts cannot replace the legally prescribed index with another measure considered closer to actual inflation.
The dispute began with Itacan Refrigerantes, which deposited money with Caixa Econômica Federal while contesting a tax liability. After the company prevailed in the underlying case, it sought additional correction associated with past monetary plans. The Superior Court of Justice had accepted that claim; banks and the federal government appealed to the STF.
The ruling preserves amounts already withdrawn and situations that have become settled. It does not require recipients who previously received an added amount to return it, and it does not allow those paid without the inflationary gaps to claim them later. The precedent addresses the correction method for judicial deposits, rather than abolishing monetary correction itself.