Latest News in Thailand

US lawyers eye Phuket crash, offer to represent families to sue Boeing.

The vultures are circling and the ambulance chasers go high tech, bringing American style lawsuits to the Kingdom. Ribbeck Law Chartered has filed a lawsuit and motions in their hometown of Chicago surprisingly fast, less than two weeks after the crash in Phuket. It appears that they found a survivor and convinced him that they would represent him for free. The victim, Parinyawit Choosae is quoted using very articulate legal language very similar to the statements quoted by the firm’s lawyers, Manuel von Ribbeck and Mike Edison.

A review of Ribbeck Law Chartered and the firm’s attorneys show a rich history of being involved in aircraft disasters in developing countries worldwide. The have shown up in Cameroon, the Caribbean and now Thailand. It looks like between disasters the firm will do divorce cases, workman compensation cases and practice bankruptcy law in their home state of Illinois, USA.

Because Ribbeck Law Chartered operates by doing business in developing countries everyone may not know that these types of firms do not and cannot survive by representing clients for free. They make money by taking a percentage of the settlement or the monetary award they negotiate from insurance companies, the airline manufacturer and other principals with deep pockets. Each contract signed by a disaster victim or their families could give Ribbeck Law Chartered somewhere between 25% to 50% of the final compensation. Expenses for the law firm may or may not be included in the final figure and could be deducted from the victim’s share of the award or negotiated settlement.

There may be a chance that the involvement of Ribbeck Law Chartered will ultimately prove to be the best thing that could happen to Thailand’s aircraft crash disaster victims and their families. However, to protect the Thai participants in any of these hastily filed lawsuits I would implore each to seek independent council and that the appropriate government agencies and ministries protect the rights of the Thai citizens during their time of crisis.

David Barkdull
Bangkok

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