County Court Bulletin

April - June 2008 (PROVISIONAL FIGURES)

Table 1: Number of ordinary civil bill cases and applications received
Table 2: Number of ordinary civil bill cases with NIDs received
Table 3: Number of ordinary civil bills cases and applications disposed
Table 4: Number of ordinary civil bills cases by amount awarded
Table 5: Outstanding civil bills with NID but no COR
Table 6: Outstanding civil bills with COR
Table 7: Time intervals in weeks for civil bill cases
Table 8: Time intervals in weeks for civil bill applications
Table 9: Equity cases and applications received
Table 10: Equity cases and applications disposed
Table 11: Outstanding equity cases
Table 12: Time intervals in weeks
Table 13: Ejectment cases received
Table 14: Ejectment cases disposed
Table 15: Outstanding ejectment cases
Table 16: Time intervals in weeks
Table 17: Number of small claims cases and applications received
Table 18: Number of small claims cases with NODs received
Table 19: Number of small claims cases and applications disposed
Table 20: Outstanding small claims with NOD
Table 21: Time intervals in weeks
Table 22: Number of criminal damage cases and applications received
Table 23: Number of criminal damage cases and applications disposed
Table 24: Outstanding criminal damage cases
Table 25: Time interval in weeks for criminal damage
Table 26: Divorce Petitions by type of decree
Table 27: Divorce petitions by number of absolutes issued
Table 28: Matrimonial applications received
Table 29: Matrimonial applications disposed
Table 30: Time intervals in weeks for divorce petitions
Table 31: Time intervals in weeks for divorce applications
Table 32: Licences received and disposed
Table 33: County Court Judge & District Judge sitting days

County court figures on Children’s Order cases, magistrate’s 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

There were 1,766 civil bills with NID’s received during the quarter, and 2,730 Civil Bills disposed of, with 1,580 civil bills disposed of in court and 1,150 disposed of in the office.
During the period there were 91 Equity cases received and 76 cases dealt with.
There were 265 ejectment cases received and 174 ejectment cases disposed of during the reporting period.
There were 3,297 small claims received and 2,937 disposed of during the period, of which 495 were disposed of in court and 1,575 were default judgments.
In total, 510 Decrees Nisi were granted during the quarter, with 51% of these giving a reason of ‘2 years with consent’. There were 419 decrees absolute granted in the county court with the highest percentage being granted in Craigavon division (19%).
There were 1,261 sitting days during the quarter with just over 51% of time being spent on criminal business.

Figure 1. Number of Civil Bills with NID's received and dealt with (excluding the Civil Processing Centre)

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

Civil Bills

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

Case	Antrim	137
	Ards	202
	Armagh and South Down	131
	Belfast	2392
	Craigavon	170
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	125
	Londonderry	104
	Total	3261
Application	Antrim	126
	Ards	184
	Armagh and South Down	80
	Belfast	695
	Craigavon	132
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	83
	Londonderry	101
	Total	1401

Table 2: Number of ordinary civil bill cases with NIDs received

	County court judge	District judge	Total
Antrim	123	50	173
Ards	177	59	236
Armagh and South Down	99	60	159
Belfast	458	212	670
Craigavon	131	73	204
Fermanagh and Tyrone	104	70	174
Londonderry	80	70	150
Total	1172	594	1766

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	122	65	38	4	27	256
	Ards	152	52	39	5	14	262
	Armagh and South Down	56	50	34	7	13	160
	Belfast	399	193	96	8	51	747
	Civil Processing Centre			20	610	20	650
	Craigavon	38	106	39	6	18	207
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	125	58	30	2	18	233
	Londonderry	94	70	35		16	215
	Total	986	594	331	642	177	2730
Application	Antrim	28	15	12			55
	Ards	43	13	37			93
	Armagh and South Down	15	46	17			78
	Belfast	113	135	160			408
	Civil Processing Centre			8			8
	Craigavon	15	21	41			77
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	35	7	15			57
	Londonderry	49	20	22			91
	Total	298	257	312			867

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

	No Value	Less than £1000	£1000 - 2999	£3000-4999	Over £5000	Total
Antrim	29	16	46	44	52	187
Ards	49	17	54	54	30	204
Armagh and South Down	33	7	23	19	24	106
Belfast	212	42	138	129	71	592
Craigavon	30	15	35	40	24	144
Fermanagh and Tyrone	49	12	47	38	37	183
Londonderry	37	11	52	34	30	164
Total	439	120	395	358	268	1580

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

Table 5: Outstanding civil bills with NID but no COR

	County court judge	District judge	Total
Antrim	261	112	373
Ards	253	91	344
Armagh and South Down	197	84	281
Belfast	831	335	1166
Craigavon	313	129	442
Fermanagh and Tyrone	271	99	370
Londonderry	217	140	357
Total	2343	990	3333

Table 6: Outstanding civil bills with COR

	County court judge	District judge	Total
Antrim	92	37	129
Ards	158	46	204
Armagh and South Down	112	41	153
Belfast	255	92	347
Craigavon	75	52	127
Fermanagh and Tyrone	86	65	151
Londonderry	74	47	121
Total	852	380	1232

Table 7: Time intervals in weeks for civil bill cases

	Issue to disposal
Antrim	49
Ards	42
Armagh and South Down	52
Belfast	42
Craigavon	46
Fermanagh and Tyrone	58
Londonderry	53
Total	47

Excludes default judgements and office disposals

Table 8: Time intervals in weeks for civil bill applications

	Issue to disposal
Antrim	4
Ards	3
Armagh and South Down	4
Belfast	5
Craigavon	4
Fermanagh and Tyrone	5
Londonderry	3
Total	4

Excludes default judgements and office disposals

Table 9: Equity cases and applications received

Case	Antrim	9
	Ards	9
	Armagh and South Down	7
	Belfast	29
	Craigavon	13
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	12
	Londonderry	12
	Total	91
Application	Antrim	6
	Ards	11
	Armagh and South Down	6
	Belfast	5
	Craigavon	6
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	9
	Londonderry	8
	Total	51

Table 10: Equity cases and applications disposed

		Court result - CCJ	Court result - DDJ	Non court disposals	Total
Case	Antrim	6			6
	Ards	5	1	3	9
	Armagh and South Down	3	2	8	13
	Belfast	20		5	25
	Craigavon	5	2	3	10
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	6			6
	Londonderry	3		4	7
	Total	48	5	23	76
Application	Antrim	6			6
	Ards	5		2	7
	Armagh and South Down	1	1	2	4
	Belfast	1		1	2
	Craigavon	5		2	6
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	4	1	2	8
	Londonderry	2			2
	Total	24	2	9	35

Table 11: Outstanding equity cases

Case	Antrim	51
	Ards	59
	Armagh and South Down	46
	Belfast	121
	Craigavon	29
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	69
	Londonderry	43
	Total	418

Table 12: Time intervals in weeks

		Issue to disposal
Case	Antrim	50
	Ards	69
	Armagh and South Down	31
	Belfast	39
	Craigavon	30
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	53
	Londonderry	19
	Total	42
Application	Antrim	2
	Ards	2
	Armagh and South Down	3
	Belfast	17
	Craigavon	19
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	2
	Londonderry	3
	Total	5

Ejectments

Table 13: Ejectment cases received

Case	Antrim	38
	Ards	29
	Armagh and South Down	5
	Belfast	174
	Craigavon	12
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	3
	Londonderry	4
	Total	265

Table 14: Ejectment cases disposed

		Court result - CCJ	Court result - DDJ	Non court disposals	Total
Case	Antrim	1	26		27
	Ards	11	63		74
	Armagh and South Down		1	3	4
	Belfast		15	6	21
	Craigavon		26		26
	Fermanagh and Tyrone		7		7
	Londonderry	1	14		15
	Total	13	152	9	174

Table 15: Outstanding ejectment cases

Case	Antrim	4
	Ards	7
	Armagh and South Down	3
	Belfast	10
	Craigavon	4
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	7
	Londonderry	4
	Total	39

Table 16: Time intervals in weeks

		Issue to disposal
Case	Antrim	12
	Ards	15
	Armagh and South Down	22
	Belfast	37
	Craigavon	19
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	23
	Londonderry	35
	Total	19

Excludes default judgements, non-court disposals and office disposals

Table 17: Number of small claims cases and applications received

Case	Antrim	36
	Ards	47
	Armagh and South Down	32
	Belfast	3063
	Craigavon	48
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	38
	Londonderry	33
	Total	3297
Application	Antrim	10
	Ards	17
	Armagh and South Down	11
	Belfast	26
	Craigavon	6
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	9
	Londonderry	2
	Total	81

Table 18: Number of small claims cases with NODs received

Case	Antrim	44
	Ards	62
	Armagh and South Down	42
	Belfast	148
	Craigavon	59
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	44
	Londonderry	44
	Total	443

Table 19: Number of small claims cases and applications disposed

		Court disposal	Non court disposal	Office disposal	Default judgement	Total
Case	Antrim	72	2	5	1	80
	Ards	75	2	17	8	102
	Armagh and South Down	63		6	2	71
	Belfast	153	8	793	1557	2511
	Craigavon	47	1	18	5	71
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	39		9	1	49
	Londonderry	46	4	2	1	53
	Total	495	17	850	1575	2937
Application	Antrim	9	1			10
	Ards	8				8
	Armagh and South Down	9				9
	Belfast	19	3			21
	Craigavon	7				7
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	3				3
	Londonderry	1	2			3
	Total	55	6			61

Table 20: Outstanding small claims with NOD

Antrim	92
Ards	157
Armagh and South Down	72
Belfast	234
Craigavon	107
Fermanagh and Tyrone	93
Londonderry	80
Total	835

Table 21: Time intervals in weeks

		Issue to disposal
Case	Antrim	16
	Ards	19
	Armagh and South Down	15
	Belfast	19
	Craigavon	22
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	16
	Londonderry	17
	Total	18
Application	Antrim	4
	Ards	6
	Armagh and South Down	7
	Belfast	3
	Craigavon	9
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	6
	Londonderry	5
	Total	5

Excludes default judgements, non-court disposals and office disposals

Criminal Damage

Table 22: Number of criminal damage cases and applications received

Case	Antrim	1
	Armagh and South Down	1
	Belfast	7
	Craigavon	1
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	2
	Londonderry	4
	Total	16
Application	Londonderry	1
Application	Total	1

Table 23: Number of criminal damage cases and applications disposed

		Court disposal	Non court disposal	Total
Case	Belfast	7	2	9
Case	Total	7	2	9
Application	Londonderry	1		1
Application	Total	1		1

Table 24: Outstanding criminal damage cases

Antrim	3
Ards	2
Armagh and South Down	8
Belfast	93
Craigavon	21
Fermanagh and Tyrone	12
Londonderry	25
Total	164

Table 25: Time interval in weeks for criminal damage

		Issue to disposal
Case	Belfast	87
Case	Total	87
Application	Londonderry	2
Application	Total	2

Excludes default judgements and office disposals

Table 26: Divorce Petitions by type of decree

	2 years with consent	5 years separation	Adultery	Unreasonable behaviour	Combination of grounds/other	Total
Antrim	46	30	3	12	4	95
Ards	40	14	2	2	1	59
Armagh and South Down	23	21		5	2	51
Belfast	46	39	3	6	3	97
Craigavon	47	16	1	6	4	74
Fermanagh and Tyrone	26	23	1	6	2	58
Londonderry	33	27	3	7	6	76
Total	261	170	13	44	22	510

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	40	20	2	4	4	70
Ards	26	23	1	4	1	55
Armagh and South Down	20	12		6	3	41
Belfast	44	24	1	5	4	78
Craigavon	51	16	5	4	4	80
Fermanagh and Tyrone	10	15	2	6	1	34
Londonderry	29	20	1	4	7	61
Total	220	130	12	33	24	419

Table 28: Matrimonial applications received

	Ancillary relief	Matrimonal application to a master	Other	Total
Antrim	8		1	9
Ards	3	1	2	6
Armagh and South Down	9	1	1	11
Belfast	3		39	42
Craigavon	5		1	6
Fermanagh and Tyrone	18	2	3	23
Londonderry	9	2	4	15
Total	55	6	51	112

Table 29: Matrimonial applications disposed

	Ancillary relief	Matrimonal application to a master	Other	Total
Antrim	1		2	3
Ards	3	1	2	6
Armagh and South Down	10	1	1	12
Belfast	5			5
Craigavon	4			4
Fermanagh and Tyrone	13		2	15
Londonderry	19	3	5	27
Total	55	5	12	72

Table 30: Time intervals in weeks for divorce petitions

	Issue to date decree granted	Date decree granted to date absolutle issued
Antrim	26	8
Ards	23	7
Armagh and South Down	24	8
Belfast	34	9
Craigavon	23	7
Fermanagh and Tyrone	30	8
Londonderry	23	9
Total	26	8

Table 31: Time intervals in weeks for divorce applications

	Issue to disposal
Antrim	40
Ards	21
Armagh and South Down	48
Belfast	35
Craigavon	29
Fermanagh and Tyrone	19
Londonderry	45
Total	36

Excludes non-court disposals

Table 32: Licences received and disposed

	Licence applications received	Licence applications dealt with
Antrim	4	9
Ards	12	12
Armagh and South Down	9	11
Belfast	0	0
Craigavon	2	0
Fermanagh and Tyrone	24	11
Londonderry	0	0
Total	51	43

Table 33: County Court Judge & District Judge sitting days

	Total time
	Number of sitting days	Average sitting	Total Time	Total criminal time	Total civil time	Total family time
Antrim	152	3:01:18	459:19:00	286:49:00	155:50:00	16:10:00
Ards	150	2:42:27	406:08:00	190:23:00	206:00:00	9:45:00
Armagh and South Down	122	2:42:00	329:24:00	158:14:00	143:59:00	27:11:00
Belfast	466	2:27:57	1149:08:00	572:11:00	383:24:00	193:33:00
Craigavon	123	3:17:13	404:19:00	202:03:00	123:00:00	79:16:00
Fermanagh and Tyrone	102	2:47:56	285:30:00	145:04:00	96:42:00	43:44:00
Londonderry	146	2:39:48	388:51:00	197:08:00	121:54:00	69:49:00
Total	1261	2:43:51	3422:39:00	1751:52:00	1230:49:00	439:28:00

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