THAILAND Law and Practice Contributed by: Chusert Supasitthumrong, John Frangos, Alongkorn Tongmee and Eric Meyer, Tilleke & Gibbins
3.4 Initial Complaint A civil complaint must be prepared in a stand- ardised 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 per- mitted to amend its complaint and documents attached to the complaint after filing them with the court. Amendments are made by filing a peti- tion with the court at least seven days before the scheduled preliminary hearing or seven days before the first day of witness hearings. How- ever, 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 plain- tiff must pay the fee for the complaint’s deliv- ery upon filing it with the competent court. This ensures a fair and efficient legal process for all parties involved. If service of the complaint cannot be made by the court officer (for example, if the adversary has changed addresses, or the court officer can- not find anyone at the address specified in the complaint), the court may order any of the fol- lowing other methods of service: • posting the complaint at a noticeable place at the domicile or operating office of the party or person to whom the pleading or document is directed; • depositing the complaint with a local adminis- trative official or a police official and posting a
notice of such deposit by the method stated above; • advertising it; or • any other means as the court sees fit. Assuming that the case meets the jurisdictional requirements of the Thai courts as outlined in 3.3 Jurisdictional Requirements for a Defendant , then a defendant residing outside of Thailand can be sued in a Thai proceeding. Unless the law of the jurisdiction in which the defendant resides provides for alternative means of service, the complaint would need to be served through diplomatic channels through the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 3.6 Failure to Respond In a typical case, when a writ of summons and complaint has been served on the defendant, the defendant shall prepare and file an answer in writing with the court within 15 days. A defend- ant may also file a petition to request an exten- sion of time to file the answer. Typically, the court would allow two or three extensions of the dead- line to file the answer. If the defendant does not file any answer to the court and does not otherwise become involved in the case by any means, the plaintiff shall file a request with the court within 15 days from the expiration of the period for the defendant to file an answer, for the court to render a judgment or order adjudicating in favour of the plaintiff by default. 3.7 Representative or Collective Actions Thailand permits representative or collective actions in the form of class actions. Any claims under the Civil Procedure Code may be filed as class actions as long as certain specific condi- tions are satisfied. These provisions include the following.
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