County Court Bulletin April - June 2010 (Provisional Figures)

Contents

County court figures on Children Order cases, magistrates’ appeals and county court appeals appear in other bulletins.

Figures are run from an administrative database and may change due to late returns and further validations.

Summary

Number of Civil Bills with NID's received and dealt with (excluding the Civil Processing Centre)

Belfast Londonderry Antrim Fermanagh & Tyrone Armagh &S Down Ards Craigavon
Received 768 166 212 144 176 304 209
Disposed 854 230 264 188 230 324 298

Civil Bills

Table 1: Number of ordinary civil bill cases and applications received

Case Antrim 208
Ards 334
Armagh and South Down 169
Belfast 2519
Craigavon 208
Fermanagh and Tyrone 168
Londonderry 173
Total 3779
Application Antrim 97
Ards 211
Armagh and South Down 125
Belfast 792
Craigavon 141
Fermanagh and Tyrone 82
Londonderry 114
Total 1562

Table 2: Number of ordinary civil bill cases with notice of intention to defend (NIDs) received by judicial level

  County court judge District judge Total
Antrim 141 71 212
Ards 206 98 304
Armagh and South Down 105 71 176
Belfast 549 219 768
Craigavon 136 73 209
Fermanagh and Tyrone 105 39 144
Londonderry 98 68 166
Total 1340 639 1979

Table 3: Number of ordinary civil bills cases and applications disposed

  Court result - CCJ Court result - DDJ Non court disposals Default judgement Office disposal Total
Case Antrim 104 64 80 3 13 264
Ards 126 73 91 2 32 324
Armagh and South Down 101 44 75   10 230
Belfast 360 202 220 20 52 854
Civil Processing Centre     50 753 24 827
Craigavon 127 87 65 5 14 298
Fermanagh and Tyrone  43 83 39 6 17 188
Londonderry 93 80 38 1 18 230
Total 954 633 658 790 180 3215
Application Antrim 39 12 16     67
Ards 57 8 42     107
Armagh and South Down 21 18 9     48
Belfast 145 46 127     318
Civil Processing Centre     5     5
Craigavon 30 6 26     62
Fermanagh and Tyrone  10 9 20     39
Londonderry 64 27 10     101
Total 366 126 255     747

Table 4: Number of ordinary civil bills cases by amount awarded

  No value Less than £1000 £1000-2999 £3000-4999 Over £5000 Total
Case Antrim 29 18 36 46 39 168
Ards 38 23 58 51 29 199
Armagh and South Down 29 17 38 33 28 145
Belfast 189 42 134 110 87 562
Craigavon 52 26 54 49 33 214
Fermanagh and Tyrone  38 18 31 24 15 126
Londonderry 49 19 45 31 29 173
Total 424 163 396 344 260 1587

Excludes cases that were adjourned generally, default judgements or had office disposals

Table 5: Outstanding civil bills with notice of intention to defend (NID) but no certificate of readiness (COR)

County court judge District judge Total
Antrim 288 112 400
Ards 317 149 466
Armagh and South Down 192 86 278
Belfast 1058 389 1447
Craigavon 323 135 458
Fermanagh and Tyrone 317 94 411
Londonderry 179 127 306
Total 2674 1092 3766

Table 6: Outstanding civil bills with certificate of readiness (COR)

  County court judge District judge Total
Antrim 110 44 154
Ards 159 62 221
Armagh and South Down 87 32 119
Belfast 361 108 469
Craigavon 85 38 123
Fermanagh and Tyrone 116 57 173
Londonderry 49 46 95
Total 967 387 1354

Table 7: Time intervals in weeks for civil bill cases

  Issue to disposal
Case Antrim 43
Ards 37
Armagh and South Down 52
Belfast 45
Craigavon 51
Fermanagh and Tyrone 49
Londonderry 46
Total 46

Excludes default judgements and office disposals

Table 8: Time intervals in weeks for civil bill applications

  Issue to disposal
Application Antrim 7
Ards 9
Armagh and South Down 9
Belfast 6
Craigavon 5
Fermanagh and Tyrone 3
Londonderry 18
Total 9

Excludes default judgements and office disposals

Equity

Table 9: Equity cases and applications received

Case Antrim 8
Ards 5
Armagh and South Down 8
Belfast 13
Craigavon 2
Fermanagh and Tyrone 7
Londonderry 2
Total 45
Application Antrim 5
Ards 2
Armagh and South Down 4
Belfast 3
Craigavon 2
Fermanagh and Tyrone 6
Londonderry 5
Total 27

Table 10: Equity cases and applications disposed

  Court result - CCJ Court result - DDJ Non court disposals Total
Case Antrim 9     9
Ards 6 1   7
Armagh and South Down 8 5 4 17
Belfast 10     10
Craigavon 6   2 8
Fermanagh and Tyrone 11     11
Londonderry 12   1 13
Total 62 6 7 75
Application Antrim 3   1 4
Ards 2     2
Armagh and South Down 3   1 4
Belfast 1   1 2
Craigavon 2     2
Fermanagh and Tyrone 1   3 4
Londonderry 4   2 6
Total 16   8 24

Table 11: Outstanding equity cases

Case Antrim 45
Ards 52
Armagh and South Down 46
Belfast 98
Craigavon 17
Fermanagh and Tyrone 58
Londonderry 24
Total 340

Table 12: Time intervals in weeks

  Issue to disposal
Case Antrim 41
Ards 62
Armagh and South Down 93
Belfast 50
Craigavon 92
Fermanagh and Tyrone 93
Londonderry 64
Total 71
Application Antrim 8
Ards 2
Armagh and South Down 10
Belfast 22
Craigavon 116
Fermanagh and Tyrone 0
Londonderry 6
Total 21

Ejectment

Table 13: Ejectment cases received

Case Antrim 23
Ards 56
Armagh and South Down 5
Belfast 101
Craigavon 17
Fermanagh and Tyrone 16
Londonderry 6
Total 224

Table 14: Ejectment cases disposed

  Court result - CCJ Court result - DDJ Non court disposals Total
Case Antrim 1 21 1 23
Ards 22 23 4 49
Armagh and South Down 1 4   5
Belfast   57 4 61
Craigavon 26   2 28
Fermanagh and Tyrone   15   15
Londonderry 2 10   12
Total 52 130 11 193

Table 15: Outstanding ejectment cases with notice of intention to defend (NID)

Case Antrim 2
Ards 4
Armagh and South Down 5
Belfast 13
Craigavon 3
Fermanagh and Tyrone 4
Londonderry 4
Total 35

Table 16: Time intervals in weeks

  Issue to disposal
Case Antrim 13
Ards 14
Armagh and South Down 22
Belfast 18
Craigavon 33
Fermanagh and Tyrone 22
Londonderry 58
Total 21

Excludes default judgements, non-court disposals and office disposals

Small Claims

Table 17: Number of small claims cases and applications received

Case Antrim 59
Ards 53
Armagh and South Down 35
Belfast 3084
Craigavon 49
Fermanagh and Tyrone 47
Londonderry 40
Total 3367
Application Antrim 6
Ards 15
Armagh and South Down 9
Belfast 47
Craigavon 15
Fermanagh and Tyrone 10
Londonderry 19
Total 121

Table 18: Number of small claims cases with notice of dispute (NODs) received

Case Antrim 59
Ards 61
Armagh and South Down 29
Belfast 190
Craigavon 45
Fermanagh and Tyrone 49
Londonderry 52
Total 485

Table 19: Number of small claims cases and applications disposed

  Court disposal Non court disposal Office disposal Default judgement Total
Case Antrim 54 5 3   62
Ards 149 2 49 3 203
Armagh and South Down 90 5 4 2 101
Belfast 233 2 773 1823 2831
Craigavon 113 2 22 2 139
Fermanagh and Tyrone 97   7 2 106
Londonderry 80   10 2 92
Total 816 16 868 1834 3534
Application Antrim 2       2
Ards 5 2     7
Armagh and South Down 2       2
Belfast 32 1     33
Craigavon 9 1     10
Fermanagh and Tyrone 4       4
Londonderry 7 2     9
Total 61 6     67

Table 20: Outstanding small claims with notice of dispute (NOD)

Antrim 70
Ards 66
Armagh and South Down 40
Belfast 255
Craigavon 44
Fermanagh and Tyrone 95
Londonderry 66
Total 636

Table 21: Time intervals in weeks

  Issue to disposal
Case Antrim 19
Ards 79
Armagh and South Down 81
Belfast 52
Craigavon 79
Fermanagh and Tyrone 78
Londonderry 61
Total 65
Application Antrim 4
Ards 6
Armagh and South Down 3
Belfast 8
Craigavon 6
Fermanagh and Tyrone 4
Londonderry 3
Total 6

Excludes default judgements, non-court disposals and office disposals

Criminal Damage

Table 22: Number of criminal damage cases and applications received

Case Ards 1
Belfast 3
Craigavon 1
Londonderry 1
Total 6
Application Ards 2
Belfast 1
Craigavon 1
Londonderry 1
Total 5

Table 23: Number of criminal damage cases and applications disposed

  Court disposal Non court disposal Total
Case Ards 3   3
Belfast 6   6
Total 9   9
Application Ards 2   2
Craigavon   1 1
Londonderry 2   2
Total 4 1 5

Table 24: Outstanding criminal damage cases

Ards 2
Armagh and South Down 6
Belfast 50
Craigavon 14
Fermanagh and Tyrone 4
Londonderry 8
Total 84

Table 25: Time intervals in weeks

  Issue to disposal
Case Ards 363
Belfast 122
Total 202
Application Ards 1
Craigavon 0
Londonderry 8
Total 4

Excludes default judgements and office disposals

Divorces

Table 26: Divorce petitions by type of decrees Nisi

  2 years with consent 5 years separation Adultery Unreasonable behaviour Combination of grounds/other Total
Antrim 53 33 2 6 7 101
Ards 48 22 1 3 1 75
Armagh and South Down 27 10   3 4 44
Belfast 63 41   10 1 115
Craigavon 25 27 3 6 6 67
Fermanagh and Tyrone 16 18   7 2 43
Londonderry 34 38 1 11 6 90
Total 266 189 7 46 27 535

Table 27: Divorce petitions by number of absolutes issued

  2 years with consent 5 years separation Adultery Unreasonable behaviour Combination of grounds/other Total
Antrim 33 20 1 4 4 62
Ards 28 12 1 3   44
Armagh and South Down 19 14   5 1 39
Belfast 40 20   2 5 67
Craigavon 25 16 5 6 3 55
Fermanagh and Tyrone 15 17   9 3 44
Londonderry 22 25 2 6 9 64
Total 182 124 9 35 25 375

Table 28: Matrimonial applications received

  Ancillary relief Matrimonial application to a master Other Total
Antrim 12   1 13
Ards 1 1 1 3
Armagh and South Down 5     5
Belfast 2   25 27
Craigavon 2     2
Fermanagh and Tyrone 7     7
Londonderry 16 3 2 21
Total 45 4 29 78

Table 29: Matrimonial applications disposed

  Ancillary relief Matrimonial application to a master Other Total
Antrim 6   2 8
Ards 3   1 4
Armagh and South Down 6     6
Belfast 3     3
Craigavon 6   1 7
Fermanagh and Tyrone 13     13
Londonderry 8 1 3 12
Total 45 1 7 53

Table 30: Time intervals in weeks for divorce petitions

  Issue to date decree granted Date decree granted to date absolute issued
Antrim 34 8
Ards 31 8
Armagh and South Down 37 8
Belfast 36 8
Craigavon 32 7
Fermanagh and Tyrone 41 8
Londonderry 35 8
Total 35 8

Table 31: Time intervals in weeks for divorce applications

  Issue to disposal
Antrim 48
Ards 31
Armagh and South Down 36
Belfast 22
Craigavon 38
Fermanagh and Tyrone 46
Londonderry 53
Total 43

Excludes non-court disposals

Licences

Table 32: Licences received and disposed

  Licences Received Licences Disposed
Antrim 3 3
Ards 8 10
Armagh and South Down 3 5
Belfast 35 28
Craigavon 8 7
Fermanagh and Tyrone 9 13
Londonderry 5 1
Total 71 67

Figures provided are based on Court Office returns. Non returns are recorded as zero.

Sitting Days

Table 33: County Court Sitting Days

  Total time Total criminal time Total civil time Total family time
Number of sitting days Average sitting Total time
Antrim 148 03:12:45 475:27:13 318:35:00 134:17:13 22:35:00
Ards 115 02:19:16 266:57:24 101:09:24 157:03:00 08:45:00
Armagh and South Down 104 02:37:53 273:41:00 130:30:00 130:34:00 12:37:00
Belfast 366 03:28:08 1269:42:00 681:31:00 377:09:00 211:02:00
Craigavon 136 03:25:26 465:39:00 165:55:00 162:59:00 136:45:00
Fermanagh and Tyrone 123 02:58:01 364:57:24 253:43:24 86:55:00 24:19:00
Londonderry 124 03:07:33 387:38:00 230:11:00 115:59:00 41:28:00
Total 1116 03:08:23 3504:02:01 1881:34:48 1164:56:13 457:31:00

A court sitting day is counted as any day where the judiciary sit in court. It does not include time in chambers or days where the judiciary are sitting in chambers