Construction Litigation Analysis: A Case Study of Thai Supreme Court Cases

Thailand is fast becoming a newly industrialized country and, consequently, plenty of construction works are projected for the future. In the period of construction boom, it is inevitable to have a large number of disagreements that turn into large number of conflicts. These conflicts that end up as disputes reduce efficiency in the construction industry and cause a lot of detrimental problems (O'Reilly, M. P., 1993). All of the parties involved in the construction activity have become increasingly concerned with construction contract claims and disputes and generally agree that the handling of claims and disputes arising in the construction projects is a serious problem (Bruce M. Jervis, P. L., 1988). Whenever a dispute arises, neither owner nor contractor benefit from it. The beneficiaries are, by and large, those engaged in helping litigants through legal process (Cornes, D. L., 1994). Disputes divert resources from meeting project objectives and consequently the project suffers and progress slows down (Hughes, J. M. (2000). Many of these disputes have to be settled by adjudication through litigation at courts of law, which make project cost much more than they should, and those who deal with it lose their reputation when disputes mark the headlines of trade magazines and newspapers (Richard H. Clough, G. A., 2005).

Mr. Tanatat Wisetsurakarn made a research to investigate the information of construction contract and tort disputes in the Thai construction industry which were resolved in the courts of law. Such information can be collected from the law digests. These law digests, namely “Supreme Court Decision”, contain court cases which were decided by the Thai Supreme Court for use by lawyers as case references.

As indicated that the civil liability due to professional practice has caused many issues and subsequent problems. Therefore, it is necessary to initially explore and investigate the Supreme Court cases. Hence, the following objectives were needed to be accomplished:

i. To explore key decision making in court cases that affects the outcome of construction litigation in civil liability in Thailand

ii. To identify the civil liability due to professional practices in construction litigation

iii. To propose the recommendations on the improvement of professional practices to prevent civil liability in construction litigation.

Conclusions

Regarding the study of the acceptance of fault in civil cases for people who work in the field of civil engineering, especially engineers who deal with construction, the study shows that the faults were from engineers. This is because they lacked professional practice in many construction projects. It can be concluded from the results of the analysis that professional civil engineers such as contractors, project supervisor or architects who didn’t work carefully would cause damages to the project owner, the contractor, and outsiders. In terms of civil aspects, engineers have to pay compensation to those who are injured due to a lack of professionalism in their practice. This type of responsibility occurs when one breaks the contract or tort depending on the legal action between the contractor and the ones who receive damages. The damages resulting from violating or tort others will not exceed 1,000,000 baht. For legal cases concerning contracts, the damages will vary depending on the value of the project. The problems found in Supreme Court both in tort cases and in contract cases can mainly be divided into 7 problems as follows. Earthwork found that the piling was done with negligence or without sufficient careful planning, erroneous bid specs / lack of quality found that construction didn’t follow the architectural plan or drawing specifications and careless construction or lack of knowledge about proper construction methods., owner interference found that there was delay from the project owner, warranty period found that did not repair the work to its perfect condition while it was under warranty, project delay found that the construction wasn’t completed in due time, third party harm found that careless practice in constructing tall buildings that were adjacent to surrounding buildings and no signs or precautions to warn people of the construction, the digging, or other activities which caused danger, overdue debt found that didn’t pay wages or didn’t pay wages in due time.

From the aforementioned information, it can be seen that the engineers have high levels of responsibility and must be knowledgeable and experienced in their work. They also have to work carefully to complete their work. Therefore, it is suitable for both engineers and involved personnel to study work data and past court cases that are related to their work, so that they can be careful about their work.

Recommendation for Improving Professional Practices

The nature of work that engineers do causes them to have a high risk for being sued; it would be better if they were informed of legal laws and court verdicts on prior lawsuits similar to their professions. This can be done by giving training to and educating civil engineering students. Concrete examples from legal actions should be added to create basic knowledge so that engineers and students will recognize and take some precautions when they work. In terms of the Engineering Council, it should collect all legal cases and give legal advice to those engineers who have problems or have to go to court because they are being sued. Finally, the engineers themselves should be interested and eager to gain more relevant legal knowledge, and should also prepare themselves in looking into old cases. By doing these things, they will prevent problems which might occur in the future.

His thesis abstract is copied and pasted below.

Abstract

The Thai construction industry has been greatly developed, and experienced. Constructions of several large projects are being carried out in the both public and private sectors. There are an increasing number of construction contracts resulted in claims and disputes. All of the parties involved in the Thai construction industry are fully aware that disputes not only lead to cost overruns, but can end up as expensive and lengthy courtroom battles. However, very few studies related to construction contract claims and disputes in Thailand have been presented. This study is an attempt to gain further insight to construction contract claims and disputes in the Thai construction industry.

This thesis examines the subject-matter of construction contract and tort disputes, which were resolved in the Thai courts of law. The data examined include the reasons behind the legal disputes and the legal principles concerning construction contract and tort law. By using Supreme Court decisions pertaining to construction contract and tort disputes are analyzed and once know the judge key decision and detail story then proposing the specific problem of that case and recommendations for improvement the professional practices. The study indicates that the problems found in Supreme Court both in tort cases and in contract cases can mainly be divided into seven problems as follows. Earthwork found that the piling was done with negligence or without sufficient careful planning, erroneous bid specs / lack of quality found that construction didn’t follow the architectural plan or drawing specifications and careless construction or lack of knowledge about proper construction methods., owner interference found that there was delay from the project owner, warranty period found that did not repair the work to its perfect condition while it was under warranty, project delay found that the construction wasn’t completed in due time, third party harm found that careless practice in constructing tall buildings that were adjacent to surrounding buildings and no signs or precautions to warn people of the construction, the digging, or other activities which caused danger, overdue debt found that didn’t pay wages or didn’t pay wages in due time.

From the aforementioned information, it can be seen that the engineers have high levels of responsibility and must be knowledgeable and experienced in their work. They also have to work carefully to complete their work. Therefore, it is suitable for both engineers and involved personnel to study work data and past court cases that are related to their work, so that they can be careful about their work.