THAILAND Law and Practice Contributed by: Chusert Supasitthumrong, John Frangos, Alongkorn Tongmee and Eric Meyer, Tilleke & Gibbins
2.7 Time Limit for Obtaining Third-Party Funding As noted in 2.1 Third-Party Litigation Funding , litiga- tion funding by a third-party funder is generally not permitted in Thailand.
3.3 Jurisdictional Requirements for a Defendant A civil lawsuit can be filed in Thailand if: • either of the parties is domiciled (including having a place of business) in Thailand; • the cause of action accrued in Thailand; • the plaintiff has Thai nationality; or • the defendant has property in Thailand, whether the property is located temporarily or permanently in Thailand. Specialised Courts While the basic principles of jurisdiction mentioned above generally apply to all courts that have jurisdic- tion over a matter, certain specialised courts have jurisdiction over specific types of cases, which means they operate under different rules regarding what cas- es they can hear. The specialised courts in Thailand are as follows: • Bankruptcy Court; • Intellectual Property & International Trade Court; • Juvenile and Family Courts; • Labour Courts; and A civil complaint must be prepared in a standard- ised court form. The complaint must clearly state the nature of the plaintiff’s claims and the relief applied for, as well as the allegations on which such claims are based. A party is permitted to amend its complaint and documents attached to the complaint after filing them with the court. Amendments are made by filing a petition with the court at least seven days before the scheduled preliminary hearing or seven days before the first day of witness hearings. However, if the amendments contain issues related to public order (ie, public policy) or the purpose of the amendment is to correct minor errors, a party can file the amended complaint after the above-mentioned timelines. 3.5 Rules of Service An adversary will be informed of a complaint by the court officer. According to the law, every complaint must be delivered by a court officer to the involved party or any third party. The plaintiff must pay the fee • Administrative Courts. 3.4 Initial Complaint
3. Initiating a Lawsuit 3.1 Rules on Pre-Action Conduct
Thai law does not impose any requirements on the parties regarding pre-action conduct. As a practical matter, a potential plaintiff may send a pre-action demand letter to a potential defendant. However, there is no requirement for the potential defendant to respond to such a letter. 3.2 Statutes of Limitations In Thailand, statutes of limitations (called “prescrip- tion periods” in Thai law) are governed by the Civil and Commercial Code. The general limitation period for most civil suits is ten years from the date the right to sue arises, such as the date the opposing party breaches a contract. However, Thai law also pro- vides specific prescription periods for certain types of claims. If there is no specific law on the specific limitation period of that case, the general ten-year prescription period will apply to the case. Examples of specific prescription periods for certain types of claims are as follows: • Tort/wrongful act: One year from the date the injured party became aware of the injury and the identity of the responsible party. • Debt acknowledgement or acceptance letter: Two years from the date of such letter or the debt guarantee, if a party or both parties made a letter of debt acknowledgement. • Cases for claiming interest in arrears; rental of property in arrears; reclaiming repayments in instalments; and reclaiming outstanding payments such as salary: Five years from the date the right of claim was contested, ie, the date on which the breach occurred.
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