Screwed over by my own lawyer

[Katy Gorice]

I read stories before about being screwed in Thailand by your own lawyer.

 

Your Thai lawyer being convinced that conning a foreigner in a case against a Thai is not such a bad thing.

 

Police men only get transferred and not jailed when being caught with their hand in the cookie jar.

 

Bad teachers that either hit children or sell exams never seem to go to jail either.

 

I paid a lot of money and got a bad deal in return.

 

Not happy with the results :  hire someone else.

 

Case closed for them. They got paid.

 

This being Thailand, the lawyer still tried to convince me I got a good deal in the end, with their minimal efforts.

 

Where can you complain anyway about a possible crooked lawyer ? :  NOWHERE

 

What is your experience ?

 

[Ventenio]

If you complain publicly, he WILL sue you and WIN for defamation and libel.  You feel bad, lost money, and there is nothing you can do.  If you want to be mad about it for the rest of your life, OK.  The easiest solution is to take your money elsewhere, because this is not your country and you will be reminded of this fact over and over.  Laws and rights might apply to you in a minimal way, so get used to it.  I've had friends lose over 10 million baht, and they left.  Farangs will never win.  sorry 

[ezzra]

The bar association of Thailand is the only place to lodge a formal compliant but your case should be pretty strong and compelling for them to turn on one of their own, other than that, the small claim tribunal should help but again, your case should be backed up by strong and tangible proofs as to maleficence, neglect and or disservice to your case. OR.. hire another lawyer to sue the fist one...

[scorecard]

10 minutes ago, Ventenio said:

If you complain publicly, he WILL sue you and WIN for defamation and libel.  You feel bad, lost money, and there is nothing you can do.  If you want to be mad about it for the rest of your life, OK.  The easiest solution is to take your money elsewhere, because this is not your country and you will be reminded of this fact over and over.  Laws and rights might apply to you in a minimal way, so get used to it.  I've had friends lose over 10 million baht, and they left.  Farangs will never win.  sorry 

Don't be so negative.

 

Yes there are unethical Thai lawyers and there are plenty of farang lawyers in Thailand who are also unethical and dishonest and of course same in many other countries.

 

Can I suggest to the OP to visit the Lawyers Council of Thailand (sorry I don't know their telephone # or address). They have a good track record of resolving such issues, and involving both Thai and farang customers.

 

In past years there have been several posts here on TV by farang who have contacted and visited the council and shared that they were listened to carefully and with respect and helped including taking cases to higher courts with a positive resolution.

 

The Lawyers Council does from time to time cancel the license of Thai lawyers. 

 

Good luck.

 

 

Edited February 16, 2020 by scorecard

[ThomasThBKK]

What exactly happened, how did he screw you over? 

 

 

There are tons of reputable big law firms in Bangkok. 

[CharlieH]

Flame & troll comments removed.

 

OP: look here for more info :https://g.co/kgs/bT6Lu4

 

Also : 

NCPO Thai government. 24 hour Call Center 1111 http://www.1111.go.th/

They deal with any and all complaints related to anything and everything.

 

[carlyai]

Years ago a nephew was one of 3 on a motorbike in an accident with a car. We sorted out the nephew broken tibia and fibia and brother in law reimbursed half the cost. Evidently the car was at fault but the report was that nephew couldn't get any insurance money as he was the guy sitting in the middle on the bike so illegal. Sounded fishy to me so we hired a lawyer and went to Nakhon Pratom to see the police where the accident was.

He took us in his car with a young girl he said was his assistant. About 2km into the trip he pulled up where we paid for a full tank of petrol, then there were many food and drink stops there and back plus his fee. He kept bragging about his gun (which he pulled out) he kept in his car glove box.

 

So we got to the police station and he carried in big time and was referred to different officers and eventually they told him to p*ss off. 

 

Went to the guy's place who caused the accident and he had already paid compensation to the uncle of one of the motorbike kids. Went to the uncle's place and he admitted spending all the money.

 

Paid the lawyer his fee and he dropped us somewhere outside Bangkok as he was spending the night with his secretary. Caught a taxi back to our place.

 

In those days it was all good fun, but there's bad ones and good ones.

[ChaiyaTH]

Problem is that good lawyers are really expensive and that is often not worth it for the case and even if it is, no guarantees to win the case too.

[spiekerjozef]

Lawyers are far worse then criminals.

But they wear a suit so everything's ok.

[kensawadee]

5 hours ago, carlyai said:

Years ago a nephew was one of 3 on a motorbike in an accident with a car. We sorted out the nephew broken tibia and fibia and brother in law reimbursed half the cost. Evidently the car was at fault but the report was that nephew couldn't get any insurance money as he was the guy sitting in the middle on the bike so illegal. Sounded fishy to me so we hired a lawyer and went to Nakhon Pratom to see the police where the accident was.

He took us in his car with a young girl he said was his assistant. About 2km into the trip he pulled up where we paid for a full tank of petrol, then there were many food and drink stops there and back plus his fee. He kept bragging about his gun (which he pulled out) he kept in his car glove box.

 

So we got to the police station and he carried in big time and was referred to different officers and eventually they told him to p*ss off. 

 

Went to the guy's place who caused the accident and he had already paid compensation to the uncle of one of the motorbike kids. Went to the uncle's place and he admitted spending all the money.

 

Paid the lawyer his fee and he dropped us somewhere outside Bangkok as he was spending the night with his secretary. Caught a taxi back to our place.

 

In those days it was all good fun, but there's bad ones and good ones.

THANK YOU. You just told a story that fits perfectly to my 40 years experience in Thailand.

[Watchful]

On 2/16/2020 at 8:00 AM, kensawadee said:

THANK YOU. You just told a story that fits perfectly to my 40 years experience in Thailand.

Kensawadee, this is NOT just a Thailand story. It happens all over the world.

 

Take the case of Stormy Daniels (a porn star paid off by Trump). She decided she wanted to screw the now president Donald Trump so she hired a lawyer, Michael Avenatti.  Well, the good lawyer Michael not only did not screw Trump, but he did screw Stormy.

 

Stormy is now suing Michael, but she has to get in line. It seems the good lawyer Michael has a long line of clients he screwed over.

 

Like I first mentioned, this happens all over the world. There is a reason for all of those lawyer jokes. The "profession" has done a terrible job of policing it's members.

Edited February 17, 2020 by Watchful

[carlyai]

2 hours ago, Watchful said:

Kensawadee, this is NOT just a Thailand story. It happens all over the world.

 

Take the case of Stormy Daniels (a porn star paid off by Trump). She decided she wanted to screw the now president Donald Trump so she hired a lawyer, Michael Avenatti.  Well, the good lawyer Michael not only did not screw Trump, but he did screw Stormy.

 

Stormy is now suing Michael, but she has to get in line. It seems the good lawyer Michael has a long line of clients he screwed over.

 

Like I first mentioned, this happens all over the world. There is a reason for all of those lawyer jokes. The "profession" has done a terrible job of policing it's members.

Trouble is many of them end up being politicians so we're all screwed.

[tropo]

On 2/16/2020 at 11:43 AM, Katy Gorice said:

This being Thailand, the lawyer still tried to convince me I got a good deal in the end, with their minimal efforts.

 

Where can you complain anyway about a possible crooked lawyer ? :  NOWHERE

 

What is your experience ?

I was screwed over by a lawyer but in a different way. The lawyer had 6 weeks with which to submit key evidence to the court for a criminal case (that he had recommended as a slam dunk case). He ended up submitting the evidence a day late and therefore it was thrown out by the court. This was key evidence that my case depended upon. Basically without this evidence there was no case... so I lost the case, but it didn't end there, in fact that was just the beginning....

 

As a result of the lost case, the person I was suing came back at me with a counter criminal lawsuit, claiming the first case was fake. They also came at me with a demand for compensation (for 600k), so I had to defend a criminal case and a civil case as a result of my lawyer's gross negligence.

 

He offered to defend the criminal case for free and to charge me a "good rate" for the civil case. I ran! Even if free it would have been too expensive as he surely would have lost both cases, and my wife and I would have been deported (after paying a lot of compensation to the plaintiff) due to criminal convictions. This had become very serious business...

 

I found a good lawyer (they do exist) who defended both cases for a very good price (about 70k). We won! This drama lasted over 1 year.

 

Guess where I found the bad lawyer? He was recommended by the tourist police team leader. 

 

Guess where I found the good lawyer? On Thai Visa forum.

 

Now if this had occurred back at home in Australia I would have reported him to the Law Council and he would probably have lost his licence to practice law. Certainly I would not have been charged in a criminal case due to his negligence, but in Thailand there is no excuse, even if the lawyer is at fault. You can end up in prison due to your lawyer's negligence, so heed this warning. Be careful. I've heard of one expat serving time (years) in Phuket for defamation of his ex-girlfriend.

 

As one member pointed out earlier on this thread, because defamation is a serious criminal offence in Thailand, I had to remain silent about this whole sordid affair. Talking bad about a lawyer will not end well, no matter how bad he is. Don't even ask me for his name.

[lust]

Better call Saulchai

Edited February 18, 2020 by lust

[Tropicalevo]

Sadly, this happens all over the world. Not only in Thailand. (I won't go on about my divorce lawyer back in the UK!)

There are both good and bad lawyers out there.

1) I had one lawyer for a traffic accident case in Hua Hin - she stole my car!

2) A different lawyer in Bangkok won a case against a billionaire American where he was suing my dead friend's widow for libel. (The American had my friend murdered.) Both the lawyer and I received death threats from the American during the case. After the case ended - the lawyer went into hiding for a while. The lawyer did however, see the case through to the end in spite of the threats.

3) My wife died suddenly without leaving a will. I hired a good (trainee) lawyer here in Samui and she had all of my wife's estate handed over to me for a very reasonable fee. It only took two years ????

[soi3eddie]

OP sorry to hear your feelings. I've used lawyers in both the UK and Thailand. Expensive in both places. The UK was Family Court and Small Claims Court. First probably could have done just as well myself (and saved £60k), second dismissed lawyer and succesfully concluded the case myself. In Thailand we have language against us (amongst other prejudices). Thai lawyer I used for two property transactions was OK but when I needed advice on another issue it immediately became clear it would never be worthwhile so dropped that idea. In short lawyers are the same everwhere and never to be trusted as they only care about themselves and never the client. That's my experience and opinion. I would avoid pursuing any legal challenge in Thailand.