A Thai civil Court rendered a judgment on 28 December 2011 ordering Mueang Thai Insurance Plc. to pay 16.5 million Thai Baht (roughly US$550,000) to an insured restaurant in Siam Square that was burnt during the political unrest in May of 2010.  What is of particular interest here is that the insured filed the action as a “consumer” under the Consumer Case Procedures Case Act (CCPA).  The CCPA makes it easier to commence and adjudicate cases under Thailand’s relatively new product liability laws and other consumer protection laws in Thailand.  For more information on these laws, click here.

Will other insureds damaged by the civil unrest in Spring of 2010 and the recent floods do the same to resolve disputes with their insurers? The CCPA and Thailand’s product liability laws have been employed in a number of creative ways that were largely unanticipated when these 'consumer' protection laws were enacted several years ago.