A Bangkok court on Friday agreed to grant class action status to more than 700 Cambodian families suing a Thai sugar firm for evicting them from their homes...The lawsuit against Asia’s largest sugar producer Mitr Phol, for the evictions in 2008-09, is the first class-action lawsuit filed in a Thai court by plaintiffs from another country against a Thai company operating outside Thailand.

…Mitr Phol has a “strong commitment to social responsibility, and upholding laws and regulations in every country in which we are operating in,” the company said in a statement. It has previously said it had received the land concessions in compliance with local and national laws, and that it withdrew from the project in 2014, and had recommended that the government return the land to the communities.

Economic land concessions for mines, power plants and farms awarded to foreign companies aimed at spurring economic growth and reducing poverty in Cambodia have displaced more than 770,000 people since 2000.