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A Tragedy During Songkran


zen4dummies

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The idea here is to keep a low profile and try to stay out of any settlement. Giving the family of the deceased money would be accepting responsibility at some level. A 4 year old motorcycle (bought used for 23000 baht) cannot be worth much. The police can keep it.

 

 

 

Zen,

 

If it does go further the best response – and what your lawyer would say if it came to that - is along the lines of “although we are also victims and terribly damaged financially by the loss of the motorcycle, we just would not feel right claiming the value from the families who lost more. We are so sorry for your lossâ€.

 

Once ANY responsibility is assumed there is a horrible tendency to adjust the amounts based on assumptions of net worth. As the rich falang it only goes in one direction.

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An unexpected thing happened: The aunt of the boy that was driving the motorbike came to my mother-inlaws house the other day and said that they would by the family another (used) motorbike. It sounds as though the families of the driver and the boy that was killed have come to terms.

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  • 3 months later...

The problems have not stopped yet. A letter was sent to the victims family and eventually wound up at my wife's village house. It was a bill for 42,574 baht. There was an ambulance involved and there was a rumor that it cost about 7,000 baht. Does anyone know what other 35,000 baht might have been?

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Zen,

 

Sorry to hear about your troubles mate but this does have all the classic elements of "There is a Farang in the Family lets screw them"

 

You did not say, or I have missed, where the accident occurred but 7,000 Baht for an ambulance seems rather excessive, a couple of years ago in Bangkok I had a Heart Seizure an ambulance arrived with full paramedic team and rushed me to ICU, 1,750 Baht fee for the Ambulance.

 

As for the additional 35,000 Baht, again I may have missed it but was the boy DOA or did they try to save his life and he passed away in hospital? Consultant fees are not cheap, 18 months ago I was installing a mirror in the bathroom it slipped and went straight through my foot cutting three tendons, cost my insurance company 28,000 Baht. Two weeks ago I slipped in the shower and split my head open, it only required 4 stitches but cost my insurance 13,500 Baht.

 

I am unaware of your financial situation and have no wish to know about it but in my opinion pay the USD 1,300 and bring it to closure, not only will it satisfy the victims family it will also take the stress away from your own family which in itself is well worth it in the long run, the sooner you can resolve the issue the batter for all parties involved IMHO.

 

Yes we are the Farang Cash Cow, it is part and parcel of living in Thailand, we don't like it but most of the time we have to accept it, Som Nam Na rings so true in situations such as this.

 

Whatever course of action you take I wish you the best of luck and if you feel up to it I, along with other silent board members, would be interested in hearing the outcome.

 

Cheers

Kong

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Thanks for the response Mekong. We got a lawyer involved and that guy seems to be adding to the complications. Sounds like something I have seen before. I got my hands on a copy of the Office of Insurance Commission document, the document that was the original 42,574 baht bill and that document is in the process of being translated. I will write more about this, if only to help me sort out the complexities of the situation.

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Zen,

 

Thanks for your honesty mate, I appreciate the feedback when I am trying to help someone out.

 

IMHO once the Lawyers and Translators are involved your 42.5K Baht bill will hit 75K before you would know it.

 

All thai legal proformats are available online and any high school student who understands a little English would be more than happy to fill out the forms on your behalf for 1,000 Baht.

 

Thai Criminal and Civil code are available online in English, due to my own legal issues I have the lot on my iPad, let the prosecution state under which article they wish to proceed and then you can make your defence. Once they proceed with one article then they cannot change the accusations, force them to make the first move. I am not a qualified lawyer in Thailand, but the wife is so I am writing this on her behalf.

 

Force the prosecution into making the first move and then you can defend it, if criminal charges are rejected by the criminal court then the defendant can counter claim against the plaintiff at civil court which happens to be Ratchapresidek in Bangkok Thailand equivalent to Supreme Court in the UK. It is a long winded and painful process, but I won my case and if any holes in the prosecution case you would also win.

 

Thai Lawyers on a whole are a bunch of thieves and don't care about justice just as long as they get their fee, damn even my wife is from a Ko Lang Wang (Thieves Behind the Palace / Mafia) family and was sent to Law school because she spoke good english, her main role in life is keeping her relatives out of Jail.

 

Don't do anything rash and think three times before making one decision, the ball is in the prosecution court and as yet they have not made a single claim against any article of Thai criminal code, there is a 12 month deadline to submit depositions if it is a private prosecution without police involvement.

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