Claiming compensation from the Portuguese State won't mean going to court
The Council of Ministers approved an administrative route for State liability claims plus a fast-track regime for administrative cases worth up to €15,000, targeting 18 months.
A pothole that wrecks a wheel. A permit that sat in a drawer for months. A mistake by a public service that cost somebody real money. Until now, anyone wanting to be paid back for that had essentially one route: hire a lawyer and file a case in an administrative court. The Government wants to open a far cheaper door.
How will you claim compensation from the State?
Straight from the body that caused the damage. The bill approved in the Council of Ministers creates an administrative procedure for non-contractual State liability claims, which in plain English means you file your claim with the service responsible, that service assesses it, and the two of you can settle without anyone setting foot in a courtroom. The courts stay where they are, as the fallback for when no agreement is reached.
The logic behind reforms like this is familiar, and here the numbers back it up: most harm caused by public administration is small-scale, and small-scale is exactly what nobody litigates, because the process costs more than the loss. Pulling those complaints out of the queue also helps everyone still standing in it with bigger cases.
What about the cases that still go to court?
They get a fast lane. A simplified regime was approved for administrative claims worth €15,000 or less, with shorter deadlines, fewer formalities, standardised electronic forms, more oral argument, a cap on witnesses and no mandatory involvement of the public prosecutor. The stated goal is to close first-instance cases within 18 months.
The package also sets a single framework for administrative arbitration centres, with public bodies automatically bound to the authorised ones, and strengthens judges’ case-management powers. It comes from the same batch of measures that already gave people the right to sue AIMA in their own local court.
The catch matters: none of it is law yet. These are bills, they go to Parliament, and Parliament is on recess until September. Anyone who wants the unfiltered version can read the Council of Ministers communiqué in full.
Image: Tribunal da Relação de Coimbra / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
