Porto. Supreme Court denies compensation to businessman harmed by Metro works
The Supreme Administrative Court (STA) dismissed an injunction from a trader affected by the works on the Porto Metro in Praça da Liberdade, but his lawyer insists that there are grounds for compensation, he told Lusa today.
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País Porto
According to Eusébio Amorim, a lawyer for the catering company RTM, which had an establishment in Praça da Liberdade, in Porto, the STA considered that the action should be dismissed because there was no proof of "sufficient facts to say that there was the so-called 'periculum in mora', which is the danger of RTM [company] suffering even greater losses due to the delay in this compensation".
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The supreme court considered that "the requirements for the precautionary measure were not met, because it understood that the company RTM would not be in a situation of serious economic hardship", he explained.
The process dates back to November 2022, when the company RTM filed a precautionary measure of 104.5 thousand euros in the Porto Administrative and Fiscal Court (TAF), requesting that amount from Metro do Porto, which is carrying out the works on the Linha Rosa (São Bento - Casa da Música) in that location.
At issue is the calculation model for compensation, which RTM wanted to cover only the pre-covid-19 pandemic period, but Metro wanted to include the years 2020 and 2021, something told to Lusa by the manager of the space, Manuel Amaral, in 2022.
In the first instance, the TAF agreed with RTM and even set the amount to be paid at 137.4 thousand euros, plus 8.3 thousand euros per month until the operating conditions of Praça da Liberdade were restored, as reported by Público in May 2023.
After going through the Central North Administrative Court (TCAN), which revoked the TAF's decision, RTM took the precautionary measure to the Supreme Court, which despite confirming the rejection, according to Eusébio Amorim, "understood, in line with the jurisprudence that had already been established, that it is not necessary to be in a situation of serious economic hardship in order to be entitled to request compensation".
"There is no doubt, from the position of the instances, that my client has the right to receive compensation", adds the lawyer, stressing that "not even the amount awarded by the first instance was questioned".
Therefore, the company will file a definitive action in which it will petition "the damages actually suffered by RTM" and will also present "a new precautionary measure, simultaneously, so that the court, overcoming the issue raised by the STA", leads to "the declaration of the obligation of Metro do Porto to repair, even provisionally, the damages that are being caused".
Asked if RTM would consider talking to Metro do Porto with a view to reaching an out-of-court settlement, Eusébio Amorim said that his client had already tried that route, without an agreement, and that to date RTM has not received any amount.
Questioned by Lusa, an official source from Metro do Porto said that "any person or company is free to file lawsuits", officially confirming only that "the precautionary measure referred to was not granted, so this process ended here".
The total costs of Linha Rosa amount to 304.7 million euros, after in July last year, the total value of the expansion works of the Amarela line and the Rosa line increased by about 20 million euros to 511 million, according to a resolution of the Council of Ministers.
Currently, Metro do Porto has six lines in operation, awaiting the inauguration of the extension of the Amarela Line (D) between Santo Ovídio and Vila d'Este (Vila Nova de Gaia), and the completion of the works on the Linha Rosa (G), between São Bento and Casa da Música (Porto) and the 'metrobus' line between Casa da Música and Praça do Império.
The work on the Linha Rubi (Santo Ovídio - Casa da Música), which includes a new bridge over the Douro River, has already started, and the public tender for the second phase of the 'metrobus', which will connect the service to Praça Cidade do Salvador (Anémona roundabout), has also been launched.
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