Brazil Court Orders GRU Airport, Titanlog to Pay R$1.5 Million Over Spoiled COVID-19 Test Kits

Overview

• The 7th Public Treasury Court of the Federal District found the airport concessionaire and logistics firm jointly liable for losing roughly 9,600–10,000 donated kits.
• The sentence set R$1 million for material damage, R$250,000 for collective moral damage, and R$150,000 for social damage, all corrected by the Selic rate.
• Non‑material amounts will go to the federal Diffuse Rights Fund, as determined in the ruling by Judge Paulo Afonso Cavichioli.
• The kits, valued at about R$530,000 and donated by Shanghai’s Fosun Foundation on May 14, 2020, required storage between −25°C and −10°C.
• Case records state Titanlog misregistered the cargo code and failed to convey cold‑chain needs, while GRU Airport stored the shipment at room temperature; both companies can appeal and have not publicly responded.