This is the basic overview of the litigation process in Thailand and how best to settle matters in Thailand. As stated before the Thai government in order to streamline the litigation process they have encourage people to make use of mediation in low value contracts and arbitration when it came to larger disputes.

Also note that if there is a foreign judgement you cannot have the judgement used and executed in thailand as you have to start the matter again and use the judgement as part of your evidence during the new trial. For international disputes where the applicant does not live in Thailand or not domiciled in thailand they would normally use the Central Intellectual Property and International Trade Court in Bangkok as a court of first instance.

The court fees in itself do vary during normal litigation. For claims valued not over 50 million Baht the court fees would be 2% of the claim to a a maximum of 200,000 Baht. The party that may lose the trial would normally pay the fees. Legal fees and recovering these are not normally part of the trial as in the US or in the UK. The Thai legal system does not view the legal fees or attorneys fees as being part of the damages claim. When a ruling is made for part of the legal fees they would normally do this on the bases of the fees applicable in accordance with the Civil Procedure Code.

Once a matter has been started it normally takes 3 months before the parties appear in court. One average for a simple dispute it would normally take 1 year to have the matter settled. Litigation in the Intellectual Property and International Trade Court is normally much faster as the government ensures that international disputes are settled faster to ensure that Thailand remains an investment destination.

Appeals in Thailand are done on a different bases. You make your appeal to the Court of Appeals in Thailand if there is a dispute in facts and the amount of the dispute is greater than 50,000 Baht. You may further appeal to the Supreme Court of Thailand again only if it is a dispute of fact and the disputed amount is higher than 200,000 Baht. You must lodge your appeal within 1 month unless you can show why this timeline of 1 month was not adhered too. Disputes out of the Intellectual Property and International Trade Court can be appealed directly to the Supreme Court of Thailand. Appeals in Thailand take between 2-3 years to complete.

If you want to know more about the Thai legal system or the Thai Courts system then speak to us online or walk into our offices for more assistance.