Court orders Corinthians to let newer members vote on statute reform | OneFootball

This Monday (8), the São Paulo courts granted an injunction requiring Corinthians to allow members with less than five years of membership to take part in the Extraordinary General Assembly scheduled for June 20, which will deliberate on the proposed reform of the club’s bylaws.

The ruling was issued by Judge Guilherme Augusto de Oliveira Barna of the 4th Civil Court of the Tatuapé Regional Forum, in a lawsuit filed by six club members who challenged the validity of Article 44 of the current bylaws. The provision restricts voting rights in general assemblies to members admitted more than five years ago.

Photo: José Manoel Idalgo/Agência Corinthians

The plaintiffs argued that, although they are regular members in good standing, they would be barred from taking part in the vote on the bylaw reform because they joined the membership rolls more recently. According to them, the restriction violates principles of equality among members set out in the Civil Code and compromises the legitimacy of a decision that will define the club’s future institutional rules.

The judge found that there are sufficient elements to preliminarily recognize the likelihood of the right claimed by the members. In the ruling, he highlighted that excluding members in good standing from exercising their vote in an assembly meant precisely to amend the bylaws may run counter to the principle of equality among members of the association.

He also stressed that the law gives the General Assembly exclusive authority to amend the bylaws and cited provisions of the General Sports Law that encourage democratic management practices and broad participation by members in sports entities.

“The vote constitutes the intangible core of democratic participation in the association,” the judge wrote in the ruling obtained by Central do Timão.

In addition to guaranteeing the participation rights of the six plaintiffs, the injunction orders that the effects of the ruling be extended to all members in a similar situation. Thus, members admitted up to the date the Extraordinary General Assembly was called, on May 8, will be allowed to vote, provided they are in full enjoyment of their statutory rights and up to date with their financial obligations.

The ruling also establishes that Corinthians must carry out a double vote count during the assembly: one including the votes of the members covered by the injunction and another excluding them. The goal is to preserve the usefulness of the legal proceedings until the case is definitively judged.

Another point ordered by the court is broad disclosure of the ruling to the members. The club must publish the contents of the injunction on its official website and send notification by email to all registered members within three days of being formally notified. In case of noncompliance, a daily fine of R$ 20,000 was set, initially capped at R$ 500,000.

In the judge’s assessment, the risk of harm is imminent, since the Bylaw Reform Assembly is scheduled for June 20. According to the ruling, preventing these members from participating could result in a decision with potential representational defects and make any later remedy more difficult.

The lawsuit will continue through the courts. Corinthians will still be formally notified to present its defense within 15 business days, while the merits of the case, which discusses the validity of the bylaw clause restricting voting to members with more than five years of membership, will be analyzed later.

Corinthians’ bylaw reform has been debated for months behind the scenes of the club’s politics and has already been reviewed by the Deliberative Council. To take effect, however, the text still needs to be ratified by the members at a General Assembly. Among the main points under discussion are structural changes to the club’s administration, including new governance rules, mechanisms to expand member participation in decision-making processes, and the possibility of turning Corinthians football into a Football Corporation (SAF).

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This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.