Portuguese Supreme Court rules that fact sufficiency for a merits decision belongs exclusively to trial instances.

The Supreme Court of Justice unanimously rejected the review of a case, affirming that determining if facts are sufficient for a merits decision is the exclusive domain of trial instances. The relator, Dias Alves, emphasized that appellate courts cannot substitute their judgment on factual sufficiency for that of the lower courts. Consequently, the request to review the matter was denied based on the principle that factual assessment remains with the first instance.