Tourist court resolves first case

A speedboat accident that killed two Chinese tourists on August 28 was the first case resolved by Thailand’s first tourist court in Chon Buri’s Pattaya City.

After this specialised court section was opened on September 5 to fast track tourist-related cases and reassure travellers of their safety while visiting the country, families of the deceased Chinese tourists filed a civil complaint for compensation. 

The Provincial Pattaya Court head judge Apichat Thepnoo said the court called in the speedboat owner and the insurance company to attend a dispute settlement procedure along with the plaintiffs, who spoke through a translator. The deceased tourists’ families initially had asked for a total of Bt16 million in compensation. 

At the second round of talks on September 6, both parties agreed that the insurance company would pay Bt1.3 million to each victim’s family, while the speedboat owner would pay Bt1 million to each victim’s family, he said. The families then took the compensation money in front of the court and said they wouldn’t sue for further compensation. However the case’s criminal code procedure was separated from this and would go on according to the justice system. 

Speaking on the origin of this new specialised court section, Court of Justice spokesman Sitthisak Wanachakij said Tourism Minister Somsak Pureesrisak had a policy to join with the Court of Justice to take care of foreign holiday-makers – about 20 million visit Thailand every year. 

He said the two agencies had agreed to open a tourist court section at seven provincial courts –Pattaya, Phuket, Samui, Chiang Mai, Krabi, and Bangkok’s Dusit District covering Wat Phra Kaew and Khao San Road areas and another in Pathumwan district covering Siam Square, Patpong and Silom areas. 

Initially the seven tourist courts were to open on September 5 but due to the other courts’ lack of preparedness, the tourist court was launched first only in Pattaya, which had about 70-90 civil and criminal cases per month last year hence the new addition was much welcome, he said. 

The Phuket tourist court would be launched late this month, while the other five would gradually open before this year’s end, Sitthisak added. He said each such court section required only a Bt1.5-million budget a year in addition to personnel and facility renovation. In future, they would be upgraded to a “division”, in time for upcoming Asean community. 

On September 3, the police, prosecutors, the Court of Justice and the Tourism Ministry signed an agreement to work together to take care of foreign tourists in the country.

 The Pattaya tourist court operates from 8.30am to 8.30pm on weekdays, and 8.30am to 4.30pm on Saturday and Sunday, while other tourist courts might operate on different days and times depending on each zone’s number of tourist-related cases. 

The specialised court will encourage negotiations between parties and will have a videoconference to hear witness testimonies across provinces. The selection of judges for the tourist court also stresses negotiation and language skills, while the Tourism Ministry will also help improve manpower by sending judges to study tourist law in France.