Consumersfile en masse over accidents
Written by Admin on Saturday, September 6th, 2008
Consumersfile en masse over accidents
Insurance company failed to pay claims
SURASAK GLAHAN
Forty clients of the Sampanh Insurance Co yesterday filed charges against the company and its nine directors, demanding millions of baht in compensation for its alleged failure to pay out on accident-related claims. The plaintiffs, including policy-holders and garage owners, tried for one year to seek pay-outs for vehicle accidents. The firm said it could not pay out, as its capital reserves were insufficient.
The amounts sought in each case differed, from 6,000 to 980,000 baht.
Sakda Srisirikul said he had to sell his car to pay a garage the 87,000 baht cost of repairing it after an accident. The insurance company refused to pay.
The Foundation for Consumers decided to help the victims after receiving many complaints about the firm, said Saree Aongsomwang, the foundation’s secretary-general.
The plaintiffs asked the courts to call for partners, shareholders or other related parties to be joint defendants and get them to pay damages should they win the case, as the firm has no financial reserves to do so, Ms Saree said. The plaintiffs also seek punitive damages from the firm at the rate of two to five times the value of the compensation sought.
Affected parties filed 9,153 complaints against the firm to the Office of Insurance Commission (OIC), with total damages of 441 million baht, she said.
The OIC succeeded in forcing the firm to compensate only 695 people, she said.
Her foundation had filed charges of negligence against the OIC with the police.
After reviewing the suits, Bangkok’s provincial and civil courts accepted them as consumer cases and set Oct 14 and 29 for reconciliation hearings.
The cases were filed en masse as individual suits. It is the second time consumers have sought such remedial action since the 2008 Consumer Case Procedures Act took effect on Aug 23.
The first suit was filed by former Bangkok senator Chirmsak Pinthong against the director of Nakhon Si Thammarat provincial airport and the budget airline Nok Air for alleged negligence over air safety.
The act allows consumers to file cases at provincial courts against entrepreneurs without paying for court fees and without having to hire lawyers. Verbal complaints are also accepted.
