I have a farang friend that was involved in a car accident in Na Jomtien to which the other party was injured. Even though it was not entirely his fault, as this is Thailand, it was deemed to be completely his fault. Because my friend's insurance company and the other party could not agree on a settlement, it ended up in court at his expense. Eventually, after multiple stressful court appearances in which he had to plead guilty to a crime, he was able to come to his own very expensive settlement with the other party and the case was closed, albeit with him on probation for a long period.

My friend believes that his biggest mistake was going to the initial meeting at the police station without a Thai/English-speaking lawyer - especially one that knows the police and how they work. He feels that he depended too much on his insurance company who, as it turns out, was not operating in his best interest - but only their own.

So, here's the question: has anyone had a similar experience and can recommend such a lawyer? I'd like to know the name of a lawyer / law firm that I can call should this unfortunate experience happen to me some day.

Do lawyers give initial free 5 minute consultations?

If so, I would call all the foreign law firms near you and see what they say on the phone and hire the one that gives the best-sounding advice.

As far as possible, you should never let it escalate to a point where the case goes to the police records. Try to quickly settle it amicably and get a 'no further claims' letter signed. If it goes to the court, it will be even worse and you will end up losing much more.

45 minutes ago, GiveMeAColdOne said:

I have a farang friend that was involved in a car accident in Na Jomtien to which the other party was injured. Even though it was not entirely his fault, as this is Thailand, it was deemed to be completely his fault. Because my friend's insurance company and the other party could not agree on a settlement, it ended up in court at his expense. Eventually, after multiple stressful court appearances in which he had to plead guilty to a crime, he was able to come to his own very expensive settlement with the other party and the case was closed, albeit with him on probation for a long period.

My friend believes that his biggest mistake was going to the initial meeting at the police station without a Thai/English-speaking lawyer - especially one that knows the police and how they work. He feels that he depended too much on his insurance company who, as it turns out, was not operating in his best interest - but only their own.

So, here's the question: has anyone had a similar experience and can recommend such a lawyer? I'd like to know the name of a lawyer / law firm that I can call should this unfortunate experience happen to me some day.

Luckily i have a friend who is a lawyer who is on standby for me. You can find one by going to the court on thepreya

1 hour ago, GiveMeAColdOne said:

He feels that he depended too much on his insurance company who, as it turns out, was not operating in his best interest - but only their own.

This comes up quite regularly and for anybody reading it is worthwhile, in my experience, having a good relationship with an established insurance broker. It should make no difference to the premiums you pay but in the situation mentioned they can be very helpful and should have more senior contacts with the insurance company.

I have a good friend that is a 1000 THB note who knows every possible govt officer.

8 hours ago, GiveMeAColdOne said:

My friend believes that his biggest mistake was going to the initial meeting at the police station without a Thai/English-speaking lawyer - especially one that knows the police and how they work.

He should not have gone in the first place.... leave it to the insurance rep and police to sort it.

Did your friend have comprehensive insurance? Assuming he did, that should have covered any claim made against him by the other party. I don't understand why he had to pay out of his own pocket unless he had inadequate insurance to cover the loss / claim against him.

21 hours ago, GiveMeAColdOne said:

has anyone had a similar experience and can recommend such a lawyer?

I had a similar experience waiting at a U-turn to turn right. 3 tear-a-ways ran into my stationary car at 90Kph - all seriously injured. A scruffy cop, turning up 15 minutes later, decided it was my fault! My Insurance agent was useless and prevailed on me to plead guilty or the victims would not receive 1st class medical treatment. I signed a paper at Sattahip cop shop - all in Thai - on the urgings of this agent. It cost me 90K to pay off the victims' family. I can recommend you don't use my Insurance company which starts with Than.

55 minutes ago, mikebell said:

on the urgings of this agent.

That's a bummer.

In case you are not aware many of the "assessors" that turn up to an accident on behalf of the insurance company do not work directly for that company but are sub contracted. Hence my earlier comment re buying via a broker.

An ex partner of mine had a similar experience at a U turn where the mia of a police guy drove her her car into the back of hers. Fortunately with contact to our insurance broker she refused to sign anything and at the end of it the sub contracted agents were apparently removed from that insurance company's roster.

1 hour ago, mikebell said:

I had a similar experience waiting at a U-turn to turn right. 3 tear-a-ways ran into my stationary car at 90Kph - all seriously injured. A scruffy cop, turning up 15 minutes later, decided it was my fault! My Insurance agent was useless and prevailed on me to plead guilty or the victims would not receive 1st class medical treatment. I signed a paper at Sattahip cop shop - all in Thai - on the urgings of this agent. It cost me 90K to pay off the victims' family. I can recommend you don't use my Insurance company which starts with Than.

You couldn't please insanity ?

Why would you pay that ... ridiculous

My wife, driving her car, was involved in a collision with uninsured and unlicensed juveniles on their scooter. By the time I arrived, the injured parties had been taken to hospital and the single attending policeman had also left. The first insurance assessor appeared about an hour after the accident, claiming he was busy. At the first meeting at the police station the following day with the injured party's family, he appeared to be in awe of the police and intimidated by their bullying and coercive behaviour. My wife complained to the insurance company and they replaced the assessor with a more experienced one and at the next meeting, the police backed off as the cctv "evidence" they claimed to have that made my wife the guilty party, turned out to be non-existent. The juvenile's family ended up grudgingly accepting a token 'krieng jai' cash offer at the police station, that was witnessed and signed off. Case closed.

I can confirm what's been mentioned earlier that for the most part, the assessors are subcontractors and in any one day, can attend to many accidents as representatives of different insurance companies. If they aren't working in your best interests, they can be replaced. If still dissatisfied, there's the ombudsman to report to.

20 hours ago, georgegeorgia said:

You couldn't please insanity ?

Why would you pay that ... ridiculous

After months of tension; police coercion; Insurance indifference, I gave in. (I wanted my life back). The scruffy cop took time out to blackmail 15K out of my (then) wife by saying my next year's (annual) visa might be 'difficult'.

5 hours ago, NanLaew said:

the police backed off as the cctv "evidence" they claimed to have that made my wife the guilty party, turned out to be non-existent. The juvenile's family ended up grudgingly accepting a token 'krieng jai' cash offer at the police station, that was witnessed and signed off. Case closed.

You paid them? Why? You should have defered them to your insurance assessor.

1 hour ago, stubuzz said:

You paid them? Why? You should have defered them to your insurance assessor.

Yes, a token sum of 5000 baht for each injured teenager, paid direct to the injured party's father, done at the police station, where everything was signed off to end the idiot's nonsense. I mistakenly called this krieng jai in my previous post. It isn't, it's called song-san or สงสาร in Thai.

The police had sided with the father of the injured teenagers, claiming they had cctv evidence of the accident from businesses at the intersection that proved it was my wife's fault, but they wouldn't share. The proactive assessor went to the three businesses with alleged cctv, one had no cctv, and the other two had cameras that didn't face the intersection and one of them was inoperative. Even if single business with the working system had a camera facing in the right direction, the continuous recording over wrote data after 24 hours. It was a cop scam, probably bought by the father of the injured teenagers after learning that my wife had a farang husband.

When he learned that my wife's compulsory insurance coverage wouldn't be an instant cash handout and wouldn't come close to covering the hospital costs, he was raging about being unable to buy insurance after the accident, causing a scene at the insurance desk at the hospital. Total ignorance.

Since the cops had been caught in a lie, they lost interest fast, so the 10k baht ended the nonsense. The angry father probably had to give that to the cops for wasting their time.

1 hour ago, NanLaew said:

When he learned that my wife's compulsory insurance coverage wouldn't be an instant cash handout and wouldn't come close to covering the hospital costs, he was raging about being unable to buy insurance after the accident, causing a scene at the insurance desk at the hospital. Total ignorance.

1 hour ago, NanLaew said:

Since the cops had been caught in a lie, they lost interest fast, so the 10k baht ended the nonsense.

You are very generous. An observer could consider the payment as an admittance of fault. I would have been asking them for for 10k after they tried to scam you.

1 hour ago, stubuzz said:

You are very generous. An observer could consider the payment as an admittance of fault.

It was my wife's decision as she was her driving her car legally when she got t-boned by unlicensed, uninsured and thus illegal juveniles on a scooter, something that means nothing to the police. Song-san isn't an admission of guilt, and my wife couldn't give a fig about what an 'observer' would consider and neither do I. Compared with @mikebell's very real experience with a different police station, my wife made the right decision, but I have been here long enough to accept that had it been me, in my truck that had the prang, the outcome and any settlement would be very different.

1 hour ago, stubuzz said:

I would have been asking them for for 10k after they tried to scam you.

You do you then... Grasshopper.