THAILAND Law and Practice Contributed by: Chusert Supasitthumrong, John Frangos, Alongkorn Tongmee and Eric Meyer, Tilleke & Gibbins
• Commonality – the plaintiff has shown adequately clear common characteristics of the identifiable class of persons. • Numerosity – such class of persons has a large number of members, which would cause difficulty and inconvenience in con- ducting ordinary proceedings. • Superiority – class-action proceedings will be fairer and more efficient than ordinary pro- ceedings. • Typicality – the plaintiff has shown that the plaintiff is a qualified class member with claims typical of the class and that the lawyer nominated by the plaintiff is able to carry out the proceedings to adequately and fairly pro- tect the rights of the class. The Civil Procedure Code provides a partial list of the kinds of claims that can be filed as class actions. These include tort claims, claims arising from contract breaches, and claims pertaining to particular laws like consumer protection, labour, securities, trade competition, and environmental laws. A motion to proceed with a case as a class action must be filed together with the underlying complaint with the competent court. The class- action motion must demonstrate that the dispute meets the level of the requirements listed above. Any potential class member who wishes to file a separate lawsuit or does not wish to be bound by the judgment of the class action can opt out of the class. To do so, the individual must noti- fy the court in writing of his or her intention to withdraw from class membership within the time period specified by the court. A person who has opted out from being a mem- ber of a class cannot apply for opting back in to become a member and cannot interplead as a
joint plaintiff in the class action. However, such person has the right to pursue individual claims. 3.8 Requirements for Cost Estimate There are no requirements to provide clients with cost estimates at the outset of potential litiga- tion.
4. Pre-trial Proceedings 4.1 Interim Applications/Motions
It is possible for a party to make an interim appli- cation/motion before trial or substantive hear- ing of a claim. These would take the form of a petition for a temporary order or an injunction. Such applications are not limited to only case management issues. If the court determines that the petitioning party meets the applicable requirements, the party may also obtain interim remedies from the court. 4.2 Early Judgment Applications Before trial or substantive hearing of a claim, a party can make an application raising a question of law which, if decided in favour of such party, would lead to the trial being discontinued or non-consideration of any significant issue of the case, or even if that significant issue was further considered, it would not make the case more apparent. In such case, the court has the power to consider the question of law and preliminarily render its decision on that question prior to fur- ther proceeding with trial. The application could be made at any time from the beginning of the case, but will typically be made before trial, as it would result in the early dismissal of the case. 4.3 Dispositive Motions Dispositive motions that are commonly made before trial by a defendant include those argu- ing that the claim should be barred based on the
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