Chapecoense: families want to annul judicial recovery – 03/15/2023 – Sport

Neto, 37, was born in Rio de Janeiro, but chose Chapecó to live and raise his children. He is indelibly linked to the city’s team, Chapecoense. It was where he lived the best moments of his career. It was the shirt he defended when he nearly died.

One of three members of the squad who survived the November 2016 air disaster, the defender never played football again, but continued to live in the municipality. A decision he began to reconsider.

“Some things make me think about the future. I’ve already been cursed on social media by fans telling me to leave Chapecó. [do clube] They treat me like I’m a foreigner. I live in Chapecó, I have investments. I built my house here. Like so much. It’s the city I chose to raise my children in, but they’re 16 and they realize what’s going on, they hear broadcasters accuse widows. Even post-tragedy, I heard that victims and families wanted a lot of money. It’s sad to see this happen,” he says.

One of the comments he heard that hurt him the most was that he couldn’t play again because of “head problems”. As a result of the crash of the LaMia plane that was taking Chapecoense to Medellín for the 2016 Copa Sudamericana final, he suffered a fractured cervical spine, knee injuries and underwent multiple reconstructive surgeries on his hand, nose and skull.

There were 71 dead in the tragedy.

“I have a cervical screw inside the bone. There are people calling the victims of the accident, the widows, mercenaries”, he observes.

Neto is one of ten survivors or relatives of victims of the tragedy who question the approval of the club’s judicial recovery plan. The meeting took place earlier this month and, for the victims’ lawyers, it was irregular.

“We are going to challenge this assembly for a series of legal reasons. Obviously, we do not agree with this. Whoever sold a box of Yakult and did not receive it and whoever lost his life is in the same basket. It is an unfair legal process”, he says. Marcel Camilo, lawyer for Neto and other widows of victims of the plane crash.

The association entered into judicial recovery in February 2022 because it could no longer pay its debts, valued at more than R$ 100 million.

On June 14, 2020, Chapecoense signed a document committing to settle 26 lawsuits against the club filed by family members of the victims. The association pledged its fan membership fee as a guarantee of payment. The agreement was signed at the secretariat of execution of the Regional Labor Court of Santa Catarina.

For the first 12 months, R$ 250,000 per month would be allocated to families. From the 13th to the 24th month, the amount would be R$ 350 thousand. After that, it would return to R$ 250 thousand. The money would be transferred by Chapecoense itself.

Over time, seven cases had their compensation settled and were closed. There are 17 left. In December 2021, one family did not receive the installment. As of January 2022, no one has been paid.

In the recovery plan, Chapecoense asked for a discount of up to 85% to pay the debts it owes to the families of the 71 victims of the tragedy. Today the value is around R$ 40 million. He proposed that deposits be made over 13 years. The team failed to pay compensation. In response, the family members asked that images of the athletes be removed from the institution’s website and properties.

According to Camilo, the assembly was irregular because people who were not documented received links to follow the meeting online. Companies with credits not affected by the judicial recovery were entitled to vote.

Chapecoense said, in a note, that “all procedures took place regularly and in accordance with the specific law for the purpose of judicial recovery, being legally perfect”.

“Only creditors listed on the list of creditors of the judicial reorganization and therefore authorized to do so were entitled to vote. Nothing can be said about the financial need of any creditor, but, undeniably, all rights were legitimate and were audited by the judicial administration “, says the club.

“My biggest sadness is that the judicial recovery puts other creditors and families in the same package. They are not just families of athletes, but of leaders. This is what hurts me the most, comparing those who were successful and took the name of Chapecoense to the world as if we were ordinary people. As if we were to blame for the club’s debt”, adds Neto.

Neto, Susi Ribas, widow of defender Willian Thiego, and Daiana Palaoro, daughter of President Sandro Palaoro, also killed in the accident, claim to have heard comments from people in Chapecó and on radios in the city that the indemnities and labor agreements made with the victims are responsible for the financial situation of Chapecoense.

“I never received anything. Neither an agreement nor a labor lawsuit. Seeing people blame us for the situation the club is in today… That’s not true. It’s all the fault of bad management. My husband died working. I always I worked and I’m still working. I work to support my daughter, so that she could enjoy what her father left her”, complains Susi.

“Many family members of leaders were sidelined, left aside, as if they didn’t exist. The people who frequented our house, who were friends of our parents, started to ignore our existence. I’ve seen people cross the street so as not to have to talk to them. us. As if we were going to cause inconvenience to these people. It was the worst side of meeting people in this post-tragedy period. It was horrible to have these disappointments”, completes Daiana.

Chapecoense’s current management states that “under no circumstances and at any time was there any type of defamatory or slanderous statement, involving members of its board of directors, about the financial situation of the club and any relationship with the victims’ families”.

“Such statements that, in the club’s understanding, are disconnected from reality, were said and gained repercussion through a member of the press who has no link or relationship with Chapecoense”, completes the association.