Road accidents - court cases

[gearbox]

Has anyone been in a road accident and settled the case in court? Seems that most of the accidents here go through "police mediation", with the corresponding brown envelopes. If a person doesn't have a driver's licence at all or drives unregistered vehicle would that be considered "person at fault" pretty much all the time? I think in Australia that is probably the case, but here it seems the driving licence is not important.

 

A person I know has been involved in an accident, so with Samui being a war zone wrt accidents I better get to know more. Seem the chance if accident here is "not if but when".

[ezzra]

You're stating the obvious here my son...

[retarius]

Two friends have been through court cases with unlicensed juveniles and their families. Both lost and both time it cost a large-is amount of money, ~500K in one case that seemed clear cut to a western eye (no licence, underage, no helmets and 3 passengers on the motorbikes the police had asked for 100K from his family). He explained to me that Anglos (himself) tend to be consumed with fault or 'blame', whereas the courts seem to be less concerned with 'blame' and more concerned with who was hurt. But of course this was only my friends opinion, he did say he wished he had known this before going to court. 

[VinnieK]

 

Another reason not to grow roots here...or drive.

You could get involved in a fatal accident (100% not your fault) and still have to pay a lot of damages.

Madhouse.

[OneMoreFarang]

I think one of the first questions should be: Do I have any chance to get any compensation even if the court decides I am right?

[scubascuba3]

Get a lawyer otherwise the police will be judge and jury

[kwonitoy]

My now ex-wife ran into a parked car in the park aid of our building when learning how to drive, she was alone at the time.

She hit a 10 year old Honda with my Sport Rider, the car was quite banged up in the front due to the height difference.

Lady owner was upset with my wife, but upon seeing me (white guy) she went into hysterics in the parkaid.

Next day the onslaught started, phone calls, threatening letters under our condo door threating us with a Bangkok lawyer (we were in Jomtien)

I got a call from an English fellow who was her friend threatening all kinds of legal trouble for me, kicked out of the condo because she "knew" people, deported from Thailand etc.

She wanted 

- her car fixed, she had inadequate insurance

- a Jaguar car rental while her car was being repaired

- 200,000 baht cash in compensation

 

I told her and her English friend to go f@#k themselves and the war was on.

My insurance company was useless, they wanted me to pay a bunch of money in settlement, I told them no

 

I hired a lawyer, the lawyer didn't want to fight but wanted to negotiate a settlement, I said no we go to court.

It took about 4 months to get into a court room

In court the lady Honda owner put on a Oscar worthy performance, crying about how she felt personal agony the moment her car was damaged, it was like her child, even collapsing in the court room.

The judge couldn't believe what he was witnessing, he said he'd had cases where people had died in car accidents and not been this emotional.

He called for a mediation between us and they gave the same demands as listed plus pay for their lawyer.

I said no.

Case was scheduled again for about 2 weeks later.

Judge called me and my wife into a private meeting and said he couldn't believe what was going on,

He offered to dismiss the case if I paid court costs and a small fee to her, total cost 40,000 baht for me.

I said yes, paid the money to the court and left.

The case came up for round 2, Honda lady and English boyfriend are licking their chops in anticipation of a pay day

The judge enters the courtroom, all rise.

He takes his gavel, says case dismissed and settled and bang job done.

Honda lady looses her s#$t and has to be escorted out of the court room

In the parking lot outside Honda lady tries to assault my 48kg wife, my wife, an Issan girl who takes zero s@#t from anyone up and punches Honda lady in the mouth and she goes down in the parking lot.

We get into my repaired Sport Rider and leave. No consequences from the little parking lot altercation.

 

Never a dull moment in the land of smiling people

Edited February 19 by kwonitoy

[Asquith Production]

If you are going to drive make sure you have the best front and rear mounted dash cam you can afford. It will not necessarily mean you will avoid mediation/court but it helps you case if assuming your not at fault

[BritManToo]

22 hours ago, gearbox said:

If a person doesn't have a driver's licence at all or drives unregistered vehicle would that be considered "person at fault" pretty much all the time?

Nope, the police don't care if you have a drivers licence or not.

Hit and run got me 4 months back, at the police station 2 months later they only wanted to see my passport and valid VISA stamp. Still no sign of any court action, police appear to have lost interest.

Edited February 20 by BritManToo

[jippytum]

I buy extra insurance for my motorbike. Let the insurance guy deal with the police and Thai witnesses that come out the woodwork after an accident. 

[kwonitoy]

22 hours ago, gearbox said:

Has anyone been in a road accident and settled the case in court? Seems that most of the accidents here go through "police mediation", with the corresponding brown envelopes. If a person doesn't have a driver's licence at all or drives unregistered vehicle would that be considered "person at fault" pretty much all the time? I think in Australia that is probably the case, but here it seems the driving licence is not important.

 

A person I know has been involved in an accident, so with Samui being a war zone wrt accidents I better get to know more. Seem the chance if accident here is "not if but when".

 

My wife didn't have a DL, police didn't care, insurance didn't care

[quake]

50 minutes ago, jippytum said:

I buy extra insurance for my motorbike. Let the insurance guy deal with the police and Thai witnesses that come out the woodwork after an accident. 

 

Yes,  I do the same for the motor bike and it covers me on any other motor bike.

not mine that is street legal.

 

 

[Tropicalevo]

23 hours ago, gearbox said:

Has anyone been in a road accident and settled the case in court? Seems that most of the accidents here go through "police mediation", with the corresponding brown envelopes. If a person doesn't have a driver's licence at all or drives unregistered vehicle would that be considered "person at fault" pretty much all the time? I think in Australia that is probably the case, but here it seems the driving licence is not important.

 

A person I know has been involved in an accident, so with Samui being a war zone wrt accidents I better get to know more. Seem the chance if accident here is "not if but when".

Here the DL is less of an issue.

It is a lot to do with negotiation and settlement. The judge would rather not make a decision as one side would loose face.

I was involved in an accident back when Noah was a lad and in court the judge explained that even though it wasn't my fault, I would have to pay something as compensation. (This was Hua Hin, not Samui.)

I told the judge that I had no problem with paying but that I thought that 3 million baht was a bit steep.

The judge agreed and told the family to be realistic and told them how much he would ask me for. If they did not accept his findings, they would go to gaol.

Case solved. Both the police and the judge were dead straight with me. All agreed that it was not my fault.

Mind you, lawyers are a different kettle of fish.

The lawyer that I used stole a car from me later on and also ripped me off on my visa overstay (because of the court case).

Edited February 20 by Tropicalevo

[newbee2022]

23 hours ago, gearbox said:

Has anyone been in a road accident and settled the case in court? Seems that most of the accidents here go through "police mediation", with the corresponding brown envelopes. If a person doesn't have a driver's licence at all or drives unregistered vehicle would that be considered "person at fault" pretty much all the time? I think in Australia that is probably the case, but here it seems the driving licence is not important.

 

A person I know has been involved in an accident, so with Samui being a war zone wrt accidents I better get to know more. Seem the chance if accident here is "not if but when".

A friend of mine was fighting in court for "Justice". Prior his case came to court there was initially a car accident. Not his fault. However he was driving a SUV and the Thai worker a scooter. The police pointed out exactly this: rich farang here, poor worker there. He was asked to pay compensation of 10.000 Baht what he refused.

Long story short: At the end he paid 500 Baht fine plus 12.000 Baht for his lawyer. Thai justice.🙏

[brianthainess]

23 hours ago, VinnieK said:

 

Another reason not to grow roots here...or drive.

You could get involved in a fatal accident (100% not your fault) and still have to pay a lot of damages.

Madhouse.

BS Just get your vehicle insured correctly even #2 insurance will pay for everything 'cept your vehicle, dash cam front and rear.

[NoshowJones]

On 2/19/2024 at 8:58 AM, retarius said:

Two friends have been through court cases with unlicensed juveniles and their families. Both lost and both time it cost a large-is amount of money, ~500K in one case that seemed clear cut to a western eye (no licence, underage, no helmets and 3 passengers on the motorbikes the police had asked for 100K from his family). He explained to me that Anglos (himself) tend to be consumed with fault or 'blame', whereas the courts seem to be less concerned with 'blame' and more concerned with who was hurt. But of course this was only my friends opinion, he did say he wished he had known this before going to court. 

Who is Anglos? Or have I missed something?

[NoshowJones]

On 2/19/2024 at 9:04 AM, VinnieK said:

 

Another reason not to grow roots here...or drive.

You could get involved in a fatal accident (100% not your fault) and still have to pay a lot of damages.

Madhouse.

The main  reason among others that I  only keep enough money here in The Banana Republic of Thailand. I use other means. They cannot get what I haven't got.

[chickenslegs]

9 minutes ago, NoshowJones said:

Who is Anglos? Or have I missed something?

Farangs

[Doctor Tom]

1 minute ago, NoshowJones said:

The Banana Republic of Thailand.

You clearly haven't visited the UK in recent years.  Thailand is years ahead of the UK in very many areas, admittedly not ALL, but very many.  That's why I live here.  Bananas don't grow in the UK, so I guess we have to call it a 'Potato Republic', or just a cluster fxxx of a country. 

[NoshowJones]

On 2/19/2024 at 9:10 AM, OneMoreFarang said:

I think one of the first questions should be: Do I have any chance to get any compensation even if the court decides I am right?

In my court case I was right. The judge decided I was right only for my lawyer to ring me up about two weeks later and say the judge has changed her mind. So I did not get what I wanted.

[NoshowJones]

3 minutes ago, Doctor Tom said:

You clearly haven't visited the UK in recent years.  Thailand is years ahead of the UK in very many areas, admittedly not ALL, but very many.  That's why I live here.  Bananas don't grow in the UK, so I guess we have to call it a 'Potato Republic', or just a cluster fxxx of a country. 

But I have. I come from the UK and was there 15 months ago, and yes you have got it spot on.

[NoshowJones]

On 2/19/2024 at 10:22 AM, scubascuba3 said:

Get a lawyer otherwise the police will be judge and jury

Right! But you would have to be very rich.

[NoshowJones]

30 minutes ago, chickenslegs said:

Farangs

Yes that would make sense, but how come in 17 years of living here I have not heard of Farangs being called Anglos before?

[scubascuba3]

42 minutes ago, NoshowJones said:

Right! But you would have to be very rich.

Not really, but that is what many falang think. Head to a court, one on Theppraya, lawyers often pick up work there 

[nana kid]

I fell                  my hip replacement cost 700,000 Baht. 

I  think everyone will agree that about the most dangerous thing in BKK is crossing the street.  If I had been hit by a BMW or Mercedes  and needed a replacement who would pay ?

[mfinasi]

14 hours ago, kwonitoy said:

My now ex-wife ran into a parked car in the park aid of our building when learning how to drive, she was alone at the time.

She hit a 10 year old Honda with my Sport Rider, the car was quite banged up in the front due to the height difference.

Lady owner was upset with my wife, but upon seeing me (white guy) she went into hysterics in the parkaid.

Next day the onslaught started, phone calls, threatening letters under our condo door threating us with a Bangkok lawyer (we were in Jomtien)

I got a call from an English fellow who was her friend threatening all kinds of legal trouble for me, kicked out of the condo because she "knew" people, deported from Thailand etc.

She wanted 

- her car fixed, she had inadequate insurance

- a Jaguar car rental while her car was being repaired

- 200,000 baht cash in compensation

 

I told her and her English friend to go f@#k themselves and the war was on.

My insurance company was useless, they wanted me to pay a bunch of money in settlement, I told them no

 

I hired a lawyer, the lawyer didn't want to fight but wanted to negotiate a settlement, I said no we go to court.

It took about 4 months to get into a court room

In court the lady Honda owner put on a Oscar worthy performance, crying about how she felt personal agony the moment her car was damaged, it was like her child, even collapsing in the court room.

The judge couldn't believe what he was witnessing, he said he'd had cases where people had died in car accidents and not been this emotional.

He called for a mediation between us and they gave the same demands as listed plus pay for their lawyer.

I said no.

Case was scheduled again for about 2 weeks later.

Judge called me and my wife into a private meeting and said he couldn't believe what was going on,

He offered to dismiss the case if I paid court costs and a small fee to her, total cost 40,000 baht for me.

I said yes, paid the money to the court and left.

The case came up for round 2, Honda lady and English boyfriend are licking their chops in anticipation of a pay day

The judge enters the courtroom, all rise.

He takes his gavel, says case dismissed and settled and bang job done.

Honda lady looses her s#$t and has to be escorted out of the court room

In the parking lot outside Honda lady tries to assault my 48kg wife, my wife, an Issan girl who takes zero s@#t from anyone up and punches Honda lady in the mouth and she goes down in the parking lot.

We get into my repaired Sport Rider and leave. No consequences from the little parking lot altercation.

 

Never a dull moment in the land of smiling people

Can I ask why the insurance company didn't assist more, was it 1st class insurance? or was it because she wasn't technically qualified to drive yet (not that it makes a difference here)?

I just presumed if you paid the extra for 1st class and had a legit license it would coverage everything including any legal liabilities but perhaps I need to read my policy. 

[kwonitoy]

8 hours ago, mfinasi said:

Can I ask why the insurance company didn't assist more, was it 1st class insurance? or was it because she wasn't technically qualified to drive yet (not that it makes a difference here)?

I just presumed if you paid the extra for 1st class and had a legit license it would coverage everything including any legal liabilities but perhaps I need to read my policy. 

Ist class insurance,

My Insurance company did pay to fix my truck and her Honda, at qualified dealers, not secondary body shops. The body shop repairs were very slow but of top quality. All the other extra demands she had, rental of Jaguar and 200,000 baht, pay for her lawyer were above and beyond them.

 

Lawyer and Insurance both wanted to settle, with me paying of course, path of least resistance for them

In Thai fashion they wanted me to pay her to make things go away, I said nope so she started a civil suit against my wife, that's why we landed in court.

 

I told the lawyer, who I paid 30,000 baht that I would pay him 200,000 or more just to see Honda lady lose, that changed his thinking.

To me it was more about standing up to a crazy bully, and we had a favorable outcome.

People assume foreigner's will get shafted in Thai courts and it has not been my experience in several court cases I have been involved with

 

 

Edited February 20 by kwonitoy

[Kalorymetr]

On 2/20/2024 at 12:33 AM, kwonitoy said:

My now ex-wife ran into a parked car in the park aid of our building when learning how to drive, she was alone at the time.

She hit a 10 year old Honda with my Sport Rider, the car was quite banged up in the front due to the height difference.

Lady owner was upset with my wife, but upon seeing me (white guy) she went into hysterics in the parkaid.

Next day the onslaught started, phone calls, threatening letters under our condo door threating us with a Bangkok lawyer (we were in Jomtien)

I got a call from an English fellow who was her friend threatening all kinds of legal trouble for me, kicked out of the condo because she "knew" people, deported from Thailand etc.

She wanted 

- her car fixed, she had inadequate insurance

- a Jaguar car rental while her car was being repaired

- 200,000 baht cash in compensation

 

I told her and her English friend to go f@#k themselves and the war was on.

My insurance company was useless, they wanted me to pay a bunch of money in settlement, I told them no

 

I hired a lawyer, the lawyer didn't want to fight but wanted to negotiate a settlement, I said no we go to court.

It took about 4 months to get into a court room

In court the lady Honda owner put on a Oscar worthy performance, crying about how she felt personal agony the moment her car was damaged, it was like her child, even collapsing in the court room.

The judge couldn't believe what he was witnessing, he said he'd had cases where people had died in car accidents and not been this emotional.

He called for a mediation between us and they gave the same demands as listed plus pay for their lawyer.

I said no.

Case was scheduled again for about 2 weeks later.

Judge called me and my wife into a private meeting and said he couldn't believe what was going on,

He offered to dismiss the case if I paid court costs and a small fee to her, total cost 40,000 baht for me.

I said yes, paid the money to the court and left.

The case came up for round 2, Honda lady and English boyfriend are licking their chops in anticipation of a pay day

The judge enters the courtroom, all rise.

He takes his gavel, says case dismissed and settled and bang job done.

Honda lady looses her s#$t and has to be escorted out of the court room

In the parking lot outside Honda lady tries to assault my 48kg wife, my wife, an Issan girl who takes zero s@#t from anyone up and punches Honda lady in the mouth and she goes down in the parking lot.

We get into my repaired Sport Rider and leave. No consequences from the little parking lot altercation.

 

Never a dull moment in the land of smiling people

Is 48kg heavy or not?