A class action lawsuit against the sugar company Mitr Phol by Cambodian farmers displaced by the company’s plantation project has been withdrawn following rounds of mediation.

The Community Resource Centre Foundation (CRC) said that after several rounds of mediations the plaintiffs and the defendants reached an agreement on 18 February 2025. Mitr Phol agreed to make a donation to and provide support for the community. Subsequently, the plaintiffs filed a petition to withdraw the lawsuit, which was formally dismissed by the Court on 14 May.

The lawsuit was the first transboundary class action human rights lawsuit filed in Thailand. It was filed in 2018 by Hoy Mai and Smin Tet, together with villagers from 23 out of 700 families of Bos, O’ Bat Moan, Taman, Trapain and Ktum villages in Koun Kriel Commune, Samraong District, Oddar Meanchey Province in western Cambodia. It calls for Mitr Phol to pay compensation of over 300 million baht, plus interest, to the 23 families for damage caused by the action of Ankor Sugar Company, a subsidiary of Mitr Phol in Cambodia.

It followed a complaint filed by people Samraong and Chong Kal districts of Oddar Meanchey Province, claiming that Mitr Phol forced them to leave their lands in 2008 – 2009 in order to transform the land into a large sugarcane plantation to supply its subsidiary companies. Included in the 9,430 hectares of land is a community forest jointly managed by members of 26 communities. The plantation project eventually failed, and Mitr Phol’s subsidiary company closed down.

The lawsuit is seeking compensation for medical expenses and hospital fees, damages to property, including houses and crops that were burnt down, and for human right violations caused by the sugar cane concession granted by the Cambodian government which allowed private companies to use land on which communities were already living and farming. It was the first class action lawsuit filed in a Thai court against a transnational Thai company for the human rights impact of its investment in another country.   

The Court of First Instance initially did not allow the lawsuit to be filed as a class action lawsuit on the grounds that the plaintiffs, who are Cambodian nationals, could not communicate with the plaintiff's lawyer in Thai or English, and that the incident occurred in a remote area in Cambodia where it would be difficult to deliver court summonses.

The villagers filed for appeal. On 31 July 2020, the Bangkok South Civil Court accepted the class action lawsuit after the Court of Appeal overturned its decision. The Court of Appeal has examined the statements of the consultation meeting and concluded that the damage to houses and property of some members of a group of 23 families out of 700 families is considered as the same violation to a group of individuals. The group also has the same demands, and although there are different damages, filing the lawsuit as a class action saves time and expense, as well as prevents repetition in proceeding with the case and conflicts in judgments.   

In 2022, Mitr Phol filed a petition requesting the Court to rule whether the case was filed after the one-year statute of limitations had expired under Thai law. The petition was dismissed both by the Court of First Instance and the Court of Appeal.

An evidence examination hearing was initially scheduled for 6 November 2023, but was postponed several times over 2023 – 2024 since the case originated in Cambodia, with most of the witnesses and documents in Cambodia, it took considerable time to prepare documents. The court later set a date for mediation.