A Legal Analysis of Thailand's Securities Class Action

Access to justice is a major principle of the rule of law. The failure of the state to provide for efficient access to justice for all would adversely affect its duty to uphold the rule of law. These two concepts thus serve as an essential basis for the formation of just and equitable societies. The class action litigation is rooted in the crucial concept advocating for access to civil justice, especially through the promotion of the effective exercise of the right to aggregation of claims to seek redress against powerful entities. Without this legal instrument, victims might opt not to exercise their right to litigation, because at times the damages caused might not be proportional to the time and expenses involved in taking such a legal action. Legal aid for civil litigation is indeed much smaller than the aid for criminal litigation. Therefore, having a healthy class action regime will help improve access to civil justice. The paper aims to explore the class action legislation in Thailand, which was just initiated in 2015 by incorporating additional provisions in Sections 222/1-222/49 of the Civil Procedure Code. It mainly analyses legal issues and obstacles involved in the securities class action, in particular against STARK Corporation for the violation of the Securities and Exchange Act. More than 3,000 shareholders took part in the litigation involving damages of over 4 billion baht. In-depth interviews and focus group discussions have been adopted to gather data from the plaintiffs, lawyers, regulators and legal professors, among others. JEL Codes: K41, K22, G18 Keywords: Legal Analysis, STARK Corporation, lawyers.