A reader from Minas Gerais was mistakenly led to believe that he had won the top prize in a nationwide lottery. But it was all a mistake, due to a publishing error in a newspaper.
But the mistake did not go unpunished, it resulted in compensation of R$8,000 for moral damages to the consumer.
Lottery prize was more than R$1.5 million
The decision came from the 13th Civil Chamber of the Court of Justice of Minas Gerais (TJMG), which changed the initial sentence of the District of Itamarandiba. The reader, upon checking the result of the game he played, with a prize of R$1,671,716.32, believed he had won and went to a bank branch to receive the prize.
However, when he arrived at the bank, he discovered that the newspaper had published the results of an old draw. As a result, the consumer sued the publisher, claiming to have been embarrassed by bank employees, family and friends.
In the first instance, the judge understood that the reader only suffered setbacks. But, in the second instance, the rapporteur changed the decision. According to the judge, the relationship between the reader and the newspaper is one of consumption, therefore, there must be trust.
The judge argued that, even though the company is not legally responsible for the lottery results, it publishes this content to attract more readers to its newspaper and, thus, increase sales.
Therefore, if you spread wrong information that causes harm to someone, you must take responsibility for repairing the harm caused.
The Brazilian Consumer Protection Code (CDC) is very clear about these cases. Article 37 of the CDC defines an advertisement as misleading if it misleads the consumer. This includes the dissemination of false or insufficient information that leads the consumer to have the wrong idea about what is being offered.
