In addition to meetings and constant contact by phone, booklets are being prepared to clarify information to representatives of the claimants.
The Renova Foundation informs that it published the booklet “10 points to pay attention to when using the Attorney’s Portal”, aimed at lawyers or public defenders of the people who joined the Simplified Indemnity System, implemented following a court decision. Its flow is more agile and allows for indemnification with a one-off and definitive payment for damages caused by the Fundao dam collapse.
The booklet provides guidelines for legal representatives on the most common errors made when using the online platform, called Attorney’s Portal, which gives access to the Simplified Indemnity System. Available on the website www.fundacaorenova.org, the platform can only be accessed by an attorney or public defender, as determined by Court order.
The attorney or public defender must proceed with the completion of all the steps provided on the platform for the claim to be analyzed, including the submission of the required documentation. Only after accepting the agreement, terms of commitment, indemnity, and discharge, the indemnity request will be forwarded to the Judicial Branch. After the approval of the terms, the indemnity will be paid within ten working days.
Below are some points of attention:
- The seals of the duly authenticated notarized documents that are submitted through the Attorney’s Portal are checked one by one. Each seal is unique and can only be used once in each document. Documents cannot be changed after being authenticated by a notary.
- The proof of address presented on the platform must be the same address registered as the Claimant’s address.
- Be very careful when filling in the Claimant’s personal data, such as ID, CPF, date of birth, and bank account number. That avoids discrepancies when checking the attached documents and making payments.
- It is necessary to inform the period and frequency (periodicity) in which the Claimant performed the activity interrupted by the dam collapse and for which the indemnity is being requested.
- The Claimant’s proof of address must be from the time the dam collapsed. According to the court decision, the period accepted is October, November, or December 2015.
- Make sure the scanned documents are legible. They need to be of good quality and clear to be read at the time of data assessment.
- The family members informed on the Attorney’s Portal must be part of the family household that lived at the place of residence affected at the time of the collapse, under the terms of court decisions. Distant relatives and temporary occupants cannot be included.
- The deadlines for any corrections or inclusion of documents on the Attorney’s Portal were defined by Court.
- The attorney or public defender has 30 calendar days to resolve any pending information and will be notified by text message and/or email. This deadline will be granted for each of the phases of the online platform in which documents need to be analyzed: Attorney’s records (I), Claimant’s records (II), and Damage records (III). If the pending issue is not resolved within the deadline or if an invalid document is submitted again, a second period of another 20 calendar days will be granted. After this new period, the indemnity claim will be automatically rejected, and the Claimant will not be able to re-join the New Simplified Indemnity System.
- The Claimant’s CPF must be regularized with the competent bodies to be accepted in the Simplified Indemnity System. This information is checked at the time of validation.
- The Claimant’s proof of address, such as an energy or water bill, must be from a property in one of the districts specified by the court rulings.
- The proof of address must show that there was consumption, such as water, electricity, or landline, or that the Claimant occupied the property at the time of the dam collapse. A bill that does not register consumption does not prove that the Claimant lived on the premises and, therefore, is not accepted.
The Renova Foundation stresses that if the attorney is not able to register a claimant or one of the Claimant’s damages, the attorney can use the field “Contestation.” Through this procedure, the inclusion of a new claimant, new dependent, or new damage can be requested. This way, no one is excluded or misses the deadline, as the “Contestation” will be registered by the attorney. The step-by-step instructions for this procedure are available on the Renova Foundation website.
Besides, in case of any doubts, the attorney can contact the Renova Foundation through its Call Center at 0800 031 2303. Legal management is also in constant contact with the claimants’ attorneys.
By the end of December 2020, more than 3,200 people already received the payment through the new Simplified Indemnity System, almost 2,000 from Baixo Guandu. The total amount paid exceeds R$ 290 million.
The Renova Foundation informs that, until September 2020, a total of R$ 2.65 billion were paid in indemnities and financial aid to approximately 321 thousand people.