County Court Bulletin

Apr - Jun 2009 (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 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

There were 1,629 civil bills with NID’s received during the quarter, and 2,998 Civil Bills disposed of, with 1,628 civil bills disposed of in court and 1,370 disposed of in the office.
During the period there were 61 Equity cases received and 64 cases dealt with.
There were 210 ejectment cases received and 270 ejectment cases disposed of during the reporting period.
There were 3588 small claims received and 3,051 disposed of during the period, of which 528 were disposed of in court and 1664 were default judgments.
In total, 375 Decrees Nisi were granted during the quarter, with 50% of these giving a reason of ‘2 years with consent’. There were 312 decrees absolute granted in the county court approximately one quarter being granted in Belfast division (26%).
There were 1089 sitting days during the quarter with 49% of time being spent on criminal business.

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

Civil Bills

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

Case	Antrim	169
	Ards	229
	Armagh and South Down	121
	Belfast	2422
	Craigavon	162
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	166
	Londonderry	144
	Total	3413
Application	Antrim	100
	Ards	132
	Armagh and South Down	110
	Belfast	663
	Craigavon	163
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	112
	Londonderry	122
	Total	1402

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

	County court judge	District judge	Total
Antrim	109	42	151
Ards	149	77	226
Armagh and South Down	91	45	136
Belfast	432	212	644
Craigavon	100	59	159
Fermanagh and Tyrone	109	61	170
Londonderry	85	58	143
Total	1075	554	1629

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	101	83	65	7	18	274
	Ards	150	66	54	7	27	304
	Armagh and South Down	93	41	32	2	14	182
	Belfast	398	207	162	21	56	844
	Civil Processing Centre			27	679	21	727
	Craigavon	120	82	67	2	9	280
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	96	69	28	2	18	213
	Londonderry	64	58	34	1	17	174
	Total	1022	606	469	721	180	2998
Application	Antrim	14	12	28			54
	Ards	36	12	27			75
	Armagh and South Down	22	28	17			67
	Belfast	90	38	106			234
	Civil Processing Centre			29			29
	Craigavon	35	15	29			79
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	28	15	13			56
	Londonderry	30	24	22			76
	Total	255	144	271			670

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	38	18	54	34	40	184
	Ards	42	17	57	61	39	216
	Armagh and South Down	32	13	30	28	31	134
	Belfast	200	61	120	127	97	605
	Craigavon	49	18	51	49	35	202
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	43	20	43	24	35	165
	Londonderry	39	8	32	18	25	122
	Total	443	155	387	341	302	1628

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	288	92	380
Ards	235	121	356
Armagh and South Down	272	114	386
Belfast	953	382	1335
Craigavon	271	117	388
Fermanagh and Tyrone	272	107	379
Londonderry	247	125	372
Total	2538	1058	3596

Table 6: Outstanding civil bills with COR

	County court judge	District judge	Total
Antrim	91	37	128
Ards	114	32	146
Armagh and South Down	56	43	99
Belfast	306	109	415
Craigavon	83	34	117
Fermanagh and Tyrone	78	41	119
Londonderry	55	42	97
Queen's Bench Division	1		1
Total	784	338	1122

Table 7: Time intervals in weeks for civil bill cases

		Issue to disposal
Case	Antrim	40
	Ards	34
	Armagh and South Down	47
	Belfast	44
	Craigavon	47
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	44
	Londonderry	52
	Total	43

Excludes default judgements and office disposals

Table 8: Time intervals in weeks for civil bill applications

		Issue to disposal
Application	Antrim	4
	Ards	7
	Armagh and South Down	4
	Belfast	5
	Craigavon	5
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	4
	Londonderry	4
	Total	5

Excludes default judgements and office disposals

Equity

Table 9: Equity cases and applications received

Case	Antrim	12
	Ards	8
	Armagh and South Down	8
	Belfast	12
	Craigavon	2
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	13
	Londonderry	6
	Total	61
Application	Antrim	3
	Ards	4
	Armagh and South Down	9
	Belfast	5
	Craigavon	1
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	7
	Londonderry	5
	Total	34

Table 10: Equity cases and applications disposed

		Court result	Non court disposals	Total
Case	Antrim	10	3	13
	Ards	2		2
	Armagh and South Down	5		8
	Belfast	15	1	16
	Craigavon	6		6
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	13		13
	Londonderry	6		6
	Total	57	4	64
Application	Antrim	3	2	5
	Ards	1	2	3
	Armagh and South Down	6	1	8
	Belfast	1	1	2
	Craigavon	2		2
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	4		4
	Londonderry	7		8
	Total	24	6	32

Table 11: Outstanding equity cases

Case	Antrim	42
	Ards	67
	Armagh and South Down	51
	Belfast	96
	Craigavon	30
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	54
	Londonderry	39
Total		379

Table 12: Time intervals in weeks

		Issue to disposal
Case	Antrim	61
	Ards	34
	Armagh and South Down	59
	Belfast	48
	Craigavon	50
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	45
	Londonderry	42
	Total	50
Application	Antrim	5
	Ards	2
	Armagh and South Down	1
	Belfast	4
	Craigavon	13
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	2
	Londonderry	31
	Total	12

Ejectment

Table 13: Ejectment cases received

Case	Antrim	5
	Ards	60
	Armagh and South Down	11
	Belfast	93
	Craigavon	19
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	18
	Londonderry	4
	Total	210

Table 14: Ejectment cases disposed

		Court result - CCJ	Non court disposals	Total
Case	Antrim	30	1	31
	Ards	52		52
	Armagh and South Down	10		10
	Belfast	92	3	95
	Craigavon	63		63
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	10		10
	Londonderry	8	1	9
	Total	265	5	270

Table 15: Outstanding ejectment cases with NID

Case	Antrim	2
	Ards	11
	Armagh and South Down	8
	Belfast	19
	Craigavon	6
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	8
	Londonderry	4
Total		58

Table 16: Time intervals in weeks

		Issue to disposal
Case	Antrim	9
	Ards	14
	Armagh and South Down	12
	Belfast	13
	Craigavon	13
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	13
	Londonderry	26
	Total	13

Excludes default judgements, non-court disposals and office disposals

Small Claims

Table 17: Number of small claims cases and applications received

Case	Antrim	53
	Ards	84
	Armagh and South Down	44
	Belfast	3273
	Craigavon	49
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	45
	Londonderry	40
	Total	3588
Application	Antrim	6
	Ards	17
	Armagh and South Down	9
	Belfast	68
	Craigavon	12
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	11
	Londonderry	10
	Total	133

Table 18: Number of small claims cases with NODs received

Case	Antrim	47
	Ards	78
	Armagh and South Down	38
	Belfast	182
	Craigavon	52
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	49
	Londonderry	42
Total		488

Table 19: Number of small claims cases and applications disposed

		Court disposal	Non court disposal	Office disposal	Default judgement	Total
Case	Antrim	47	2	8	4	61
	Ards	81		13	8	102
	Armagh and South Down	51	2	1	1	55
	Belfast	210	3	815	1644	2672
	Craigavon	47	4	12	5	68
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	46		7		53
	Londonderry	35		3	2	40
	Total	517	11	859	1664	3051
Application	Antrim	5	1			6
	Ards	7	1			8
	Armagh and South Down	3	3			6
	Belfast	33	1			34
	Craigavon	6				6
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	11				11
	Londonderry	6				6
	Total	71	6			77

Table 20: Outstanding small claims with NOD

Antrim	110
Ards	154
Armagh and South Down	73
Belfast	288
Craigavon	95
Fermanagh and Tyrone	109
Londonderry	88
Total	917

Table 21: Time intervals in weeks

		Issue to disposal
Case	Antrim	21
	Ards	23
	Armagh and South Down	23
	Belfast	19
	Craigavon	24
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	18
	Londonderry	16
	Total	20
Application	Antrim	2
	Ards	7
	Armagh and South Down	4
	Belfast	3
	Craigavon	4
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	10
	Londonderry	3
	Total	4

Excludes default judgements, non-court disposals and office disposals

Criminal Damage

Table 22: Number of criminal damage cases and applications received

Case	Armagh and South Down	1
	Belfast	3
	Craigavon	1
	Total	5

Table 23: Number of criminal damage cases and applications disposed

		Court disposal	Total
Case	Belfast	5	5
Case	Total	5	5
Application	Londonderry	1	1
Application	Total	1	1

Table 24: Outstanding criminal damage cases

Antrim	1
Ards	3
Armagh and South Down	11
Belfast	73
Craigavon	18
Fermanagh and Tyrone	5
Londonderry	13
Total	124

Table 25: Time intervals in weeks

		Issue to disposal
Case	Belfast	90
Case	Total	90
Application	Londonderry	3
Application	Total	3

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	31	18	2	5	1	57
Ards	34	18	3		1	56
Armagh and South Down	11	14		7	2	34
Belfast	34	25		2	2	63
Craigavon	27	11	1	3	2	44
Fermanagh and Tyrone	22	15	1	4	4	46
Londonderry	30	26	2	9	8	75
Total	189	127	9	30	20	375

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	21	19	1	6	3	50
Ards	15	11	1	1	1	29
Armagh and South Down	13	15	1	4	3	36
Belfast	37	33		5	6	81
Craigavon	27	11		3		41
Fermanagh and Tyrone	12	9	2	2	4	29
Londonderry	17	20		8	1	46
Total	142	118	5	29	18	312

Table 28: Matrimonial applications received

	Ancillary relief	Matrimonial application to a master	Other	Total
Antrim	6			6
Ards	1		1	2
Armagh and South Down	9		1	10
Belfast	1		33	34
Craigavon	3			3
Fermanagh and Tyrone	4		1	5
Londonderry	18	1	2	21
Total	42	1	38	81

Table 29: Matrimonial applications disposed

	Ancillary relief	Matrimonial application to a master	Other	Total
Antrim	9			9
Ards	1		1	2
Armagh and South Down	17			17
Belfast	8	1		9
Craigavon	7		1	8
Fermanagh and Tyrone	10			10
Londonderry	20		1	21
Total	72	1	3	76

Table 30: Time intervals in weeks for divorce petitions

	Issue to date decree granted	Date decree granted to date absolute issued
Antrim	32	8
Ards	27	8
Armagh and South Down	30	8
Belfast	29	9
Craigavon	32	8
Fermanagh and Tyrone	31	9
Londonderry	37	9
Total	32	8

Table 31: Time intervals in weeks for divorce applications

	Issue to disposal
Antrim	33
Ards	32
Armagh and South Down	34
Belfast	53
Craigavon	48
Fermanagh and Tyrone	41
Londonderry	56
Total	45

Excludes non-court disposals

Licences

Table 32: Licences received and disposed

	Licenses Received	Licences Disposed
Antrim	17	13
Ards	11	12
Armagh and South Down	2	9
Belfast	20	18
Craigavon	14	14
Fermanagh and Tyrone	14	31
Londonderry	9	7
Total	87	104

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

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	Total criminal time	Total civil time	Total family time
Antrim	125	2:50:29	355:10:00	234:50:00	110:03:00.	10:17:00
Ards	102	2:02:45	208:40:24	58:20:24	144:50:00	5:30:00
Armagh and South Down	122	3:07:06	380:26:00	218:36:00	146:34:00	15:16:00
Belfast	385	3:22:01	1296:15:00	688:29:00	430:42:00	177:04:00
Craigavon	126	3:00:57	380:00:00	134:57:00	183:40:00	60:38:00
Fermanagh and Tyrone	102	2:49:07	287:30:00	137:45:00	129:45:00	20:00:00
Londonderry	127	2:33:17	324:27:00	118:28:00	121:20:00	84:39:00
Total	1089	2:58:06	3232:28:24	1591:25:24	1266:54:00	373:24:00

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