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The Use of Criminal Proceedings in what would be regarded a Civil Matter in the U.S.
One of the more unique and often troublesome aspects of the Thai legal system is that Thai private parties can and often do commence private criminal actions to extract a settlement from what would be treated as a civil matter in the U.S.
Imagine that you need to let an executive in your home office back in the U.S. know that he needs to travel to Thailand to attend a court proceeding, post bail and enter a plea in a criminal case over a matter about which he has absolutely no knowledge. And he needs to do this because a private party in a commercial or labor dispute with the local Thai subsidiary has commenced criminal proceedings against the local Thai subsidiary and all of its directors, including U.S. based directors of the local subsidiary that may have never even set foot in Thailand, but have nonetheless been named as defendants.
Having the ability to criminalize what would otherwise be considered a civil dispute and force foreign executives into the Thai criminal justice system provides local litigants with considerable leverage. This leverage is not infrequently employed in efforts to extract settlements from the subsidiaries of the U.S. and other foreign companies.
Our panel for this discussion includes a former Thai civil court judge (now a partner at Hunton & Williams), Ajarn Surasak Vajasit, who will talk about his experience both from the bench and as a practitioner in addressing such matters. Michael Ramirez, a consultant with Tillike & Gibbins and co-chair of AMCHAM’s Legal Committee will provide context for the discussion with a few examples of how these sorts of claims arise. Douglas Mancill, a partner at PriceSanond and chair of AMCHAM’s Legal Committee, will moderate.
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