ElephantEgo

Not so cut and dry on that, this is Thai/Farang vs Thai/Farang. Thank you for these constructive comments. We were also recommended the Ombudsman office earlier by a lawyer who previously did work for us. It seems this is a legitimate and reasonable recourse. How to contact this Samui Survive please? Or any other pertinent organizations?

Despite the title of this thread, I've decided I don't want to fight corruption (like moving mountains) but do want to fight the people who stole from us, since it was a lot of profits involved. While @OneMoreFarang suggests giving up because the Royal Thai Police and Law Enforcement are unequivocally corrupt: In other experiences, this is not always the case. @timendres noted: Especially, we can expect the authorities to be above-board if wrongdoers have already been revealed to the public, such as by judges' decisions in connected case/s. So please do not completely give up on the Rule of Law in Thailand! Or will you argue that judges are also, all bought and paid for? Even in the higher courts? And police are not also afraid of appearing to make the wrong decisions when the facts come before a judge regarding the case they were tasked with investigating/overseeing? I do have faith that the authorities are not only controlled by what many here allege, but also by (the appearance or intent of) being clean. There has to be a way to slowly but surely compel authorities to do their jobs properly, without making them loose face and without rocking the boat too much. For example, a civil case which shows lots of criminal damage/intent with a breadth and depth of evidence that indicates police better quickly take a more active role, which then compels them to do so. The point is that we want to win, slowly but surely, against the wrongdoers without stepping on everyone's toes or fighting everyone in our path. Like soft power, strong but fair and with minimal (if any) collateral damage since we have the support of all those concerned.

I won another court case recently... and it just so happens that my lawyer said I will be awarded a portion the the main damages asked for, as well as 10,000 THB for the legal fees! Yes, 10,000 THB when my lawyer's fee was 250,000 THB! Where does the judge come up with this? My lawyer fee was more than 50% of what I earned from the damn civil case winning! I do think that, to be given the legal fees back, we would have to ask the judge for that and put it into the claim. However, the lawyer fees in Thailand can range from 25,000 to 250,000 for a similar case, depending on who you hire. Since it is all over the board, one of my lawyers said it can't be asked for in Thailand (the "official" fee is small) but I still question whether this is accurate or not... According to ChatGPT it is not true. I just asked ChatGPT 4o about this and it said we can claim the fees in the court cases in Thailand. However the judge will likely award only a portion, and it should all be clearly documented: https://chatgpt.com/share/90c26402-d266-4906-9850-04c4e0a467ea Again, I don't think the lawyers who get 250k/case really want the court and opposition to know what they are getting, by them putting this into the claims! I could see them putting some lower fake number however.... FFS!

We did file it at the court, using our private lawyer. We did not and were not offered to use public prosecutors. Is it possible to use public prosecutors and if so, how? This is sad. However the fee of 100,000 THB is not too unreasonable. Although the judge income is likely less than that amount for the month... so yeah, it is a lot in their eyes. It seems we could have asked for that but maybe our lawyer was not comfortable to do so.

Our lawyers did not give us that option. They wanted us to pay them. I understand about filing a police complaint.... However what is this about reporting to the court? There is a way to report criminal infractions to the court directly and bypass police, and how is that done?

After waiting for a year for the police to forward our case to the public prosecutor, our lawyers have now suggested that we file the civil claim first instead of the criminal claim. They mentioned that once the civil case is filed, the police cannot argue that the matter should be treated as a civil case since it would already be in civil court. I assume that the judge's decision as well, which will take a few months, might compel the police to act, as the court might find that crimes were indeed committed. This would allow us to pursue a criminal case afterwards to recover full damages. @timendres Are you suggesting that we should be cautious and possibly consider paying the police (I have no way to know if someone on our side already did) to expedite the process? If so, what if the other party offers more money to avoid prosecution, given that they possess our sizable stolen assets/revenue stream? Wouldn't this lead to a bidding war with no clear resolution? How can we navigate this situation?

Hello everyone, We are dealing with a situation where a crime was committed, but we suspect that the criminal has bribed the police to prevent the case from being referred to public prosecutors. The police are denying that it is a criminal matter and are claiming it is a civil issue. Objectively, we believe it is clearly a criminal matter. However, even if the investigator agrees, their superior refuses to pursue it as a criminal case. Is there any recourse in this situation? Should we contact the Ombudsman, the CIB, the DSI, or the NACC? What should we do? Additionally, we have evidence suggesting that the criminal gave gifts to both the police and prosecutors, although we may not be able to use this evidence in court since those people who have the evidence, would not like to come forward for fear of stepping on toes.... Any advice on which agency to contact or how to proceed would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

We did not expect to be awarded only 50,000 THB. We sued for 300,000 which is the maximum in the small claims district court. Does anyone on this forum have experience with such things?

When suing someone in Thailand, whether in a civil or criminal case, is it advisable to include legal fees as part of the damages claim? For instance, my wife recently won a defamation case but incurred legal fees of 100,000 THB while only being awarded 50,000 THB in damages. Our lawyers advised against requesting reimbursement for legal fees, arguing that it is inappropriate because legal fees in Thailand can vary significantly. Is this advice accurate? The primary damage caused by the defamer was the financial and time burden we had to bear to defend our reputation. This can easily be proven by showing receipts of legal payments during the case. While it might make the lawyer uncomfortable (due to tax implications), could including legal fees help ensure a fairer verdict? What are your experiences with this in Thailand?

Damn, I was hoping to avoid the mess at the immigration office this year (its insane in December!). But if the online stuff doesnt work, especially in Phuket then there is no hope! Sad!

Could this be useful in somewhere like Phuket? During peak tourism season, the IO is completely overrun and they exhaust queue cards daily. If I am able to submit all documents online and then just go in with my wife to get the stamp, it might be very useful and save time/paper. I don't mind the added cost if it helps me save time. What is the cost anyways?

Hi, my wife and I have been doing annual marriage extensions for me in-person for about 8 years now. I saw that Thailand might have setup a new website to let us do it online this year? https://online.vfsevisa.com/thai Does anyone know if it's working or any tips, summary or advice for proceeding on that?

Conclusion: I did the TM 30 for my wife (for me) online and it worked. Then I did the 90 day report online and it worked. PROBLEMS SOLVED HURRAY!

Phuket. I believe I was able to register my address online using my wife's documents. So I went back to the 90 day website just now and tried to resubmit that too.... hopefully it is accepted this time!

Can you send me something in English? Sorry I cant read Thai.