Kwah Dao Foundation is providing special legal consultation to Mr. K (assumed name), a 58-year nationality-less elderly laborer, in filing a lawsuit against a city law enforcement officer for driving a pickup truck negligently causing serious injuries to Mr. K.
This special consultation is the operation under the Legal Assistance Program of Kwah Dao, which is administered directly by our attorney, Jarudech Pechpoom, who is one of our past scholarship recipients currently working as an executive director and volunteer attorney of our organization. The story of Mr. K brought by his employer to Kwah Dao during the 2-day Legal Training for Stateless, Nationality-less, and Migrant Students conducted on the 7th and 8th of October 2023. At that time, our attorney only learned that Mr. K was hit by a pickup truck on the Chiang Mai – Chiang Rai road while he was on the way back to his accommodation. The wrongdoer promised to compensate for the damages of 24,000 baht by the installment plan but did not once make the payment.
When it came to the stage that sending a notice letter to the wrongdoer was needed, our attorney then interviewed Mr. K and his employer for more facts and found that this was not a small personal injury case. According to the facts and evidence, the injuries done to Mr. K were serious, his shins were both broken, same as his left wrist. He was sent to Nakornping Hospital for 13 days for surgeries and receiving other relevant medical treatment, and then discharged without receiving one single visit from the wrongdoer. Six months later, he had to be in the hospital for 3 days for the second time surgery on his left shin due to a nonunion of bone caused by a severe bone fracture. It took him around 5-6 months to recover his left wrist, 8 months for the right shin, and 10 months for the left shin. During the recovery period, he had to do his daily routine by himself because he had no wife, children, or relatives to look after him. He had to crawl on the ground getting from point A to point B for several months. In addition, this accident occurred during the winter which caused much more pain and suffering to Mr. K than usual. He couldn’t work and lacked money because he had no other income sources and didn’t receive compensation from the wrongdoer. To this day, Mr. K’s left lack has not fully recovered meaning that he still has to live with pain and suffering. He has to use a crutch while walking and still has to visit the doctor for a quarterly follow-up. The circumstances mentioned earlier caused severe suffering to Mr. K both mentally and physically.
Our attorney also did a profile check and discovered that the wrongdoer is currently working as a city law enforcement officer at a subdistrict municipality in Chiang Mai. It also appeared that the owner of the pickup truck, who is one of the family members of the wrongdoer is currently working as an experienced court officer in a provincial court of central Thailand. It’s then understandable right away why the wrongdoer was only charged by the local police for driving carelessly, causing light injury and damage to the body and property of others which is a light allegation and with a very light penalty. In fact, the act of the wrongdoer, facts, and the evidence of this accident must be considered a public offense which is a non-compoundable offense. The wrongdoer must be charged with acting negligently and causing grievous bodily harm to others under Thai Criminal Code which has more serious punishment such as imprisonment of up to 3 years, a fine of up to 60,000 baht, or both. It obviously showed how the current career of both the wrongdoer and his family member affected the impartiality of the local police and ruined the justice system.
On behalf of Mr. K, our attorney has already legally sent a notice letter to the wrongdoer demanding compensation of over 285,000 baht in total for causing mental and physical suffering, loss of earnings, damages to property, and some other relevant expenses plus 5% of interest but the wrongdoer still ignored it. We thoroughly considered that there is no other way of receiving such compensation from the wrongdoer except to file a lawsuit which will soon be filed, our attorney then agreed to represent Mr. K in fighting for his rights in court free of charge. Even though it’s a challenging case for several factors, we will do our best to consult Mr. K in fighting for the justice he deserves.
