County Court Bulletin January - March 2010 (Provisional Figures)

Table 1: Number of ordinary civil bill cases and applications received
Table 2: Number of ordinary civil bill cases with NIDs received by judicial level
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 for equity
Table 13: Ejectment cases received
Table 14: Ejectment cases disposed
Table 15: Outstanding ejectment cases with NID
Table 16: Time intervals in weeks for ejectment
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 for small claims
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 decrees Nisi
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 1,933 civil bills with a notice of intention to defend (NID) received during the quarter of January to March 2010. A total of 3,322 civil bills were disposed of during the quarter, of which 1,758 civil bills were disposed of in court.
During the same period there were 52 equity cases received and 62 cases dealt with.
There were 261 ejectment cases received and 190 ejectment cases disposed of during the reporting period.
There were 3,640 small claims received and 3,018 disposed of during the period, of which 508 were disposed of in court and 1,794 were default judgments.
In total, 320 decrees nisi were granted during the quarter, with 51% of these giving a reason of ‘2 years with consent’. There were 399 decrees absolute granted in the county court.
There were 1,193 sitting days during the quarter, with 54% of time having been spent on criminal business.

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	747	149	208	180	119	335	195
Disposed	852	223	270	261	263	387	246

Civil Bills

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

Case	Antrim	253
	Ards	358
	Armagh and South Down	156
	Belfast	2787
	Craigavon	207
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	188
	Londonderry	173
	Total	4122
Application	Antrim	106
	Ards	166
	Armagh and South Down	111
	Belfast	790
	Craigavon	112
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	88
	Londonderry	151
	Total	1524

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	137	71	208
Ards	223	112	335
Armagh and South Down	82	37	119
Belfast	516	231	747
Craigavon	121	74	195
Fermanagh and Tyrone	120	60	180
Londonderry	95	54	149
Total	1294	639	1933

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	92	94	60	4	20	270
	Ards	200	86	75	5	21	387
	Armagh and South Down	127	38	83	4	11	263
	Belfast	378	235	168	16	55	852
	Civil Processing Centre	0	0	26	771	23	820
	Craigavon	107	57	55	4	23	246
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	107	76	58	4	16	261
	Londonderry	81	80	47	1	14	223
	Total	1092	666	572	809	183	3322
Application	Antrim	22	17	16	0	0	55
	Ards	34	13	33	0	0	80
	Armagh and South Down	22	8	12	0	0	42
	Belfast	92	33	100	0	0	225
	Civil Processing Centre	0	0	51	0	0	51
	Craigavon	21	7	23	0	0	51
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	27	16	15	0	0	58
	Londonderry	41	16	17	0	0	74
	Total	259	110	267	0	0	636

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	51	19	41	43	32	186
	Ards	63	35	78	60	50	286
	Armagh and South Down	54	15	36	21	39	165
	Belfast	180	64	151	118	100	613
	Craigavon	28	22	56	29	29	164
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	47	18	50	36	32	183
	Londonderry	58	13	35	34	21	161
	Total	481	186	447	341	303	1758

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	280	114	394
Ards	306	161	467
Armagh and South Down	208	77	285
Belfast	1074	410	1484
Craigavon	316	151	467
Fermanagh and Tyrone	307	131	438
Londonderry	193	137	330
Total	2684	1181	3865

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

	County court judge	District judge	Total
Antrim	110	41	151
Ards	130	53	183
Armagh and South Down	97	35	132
Belfast	343	96	439
Craigavon	105	43	148
Fermanagh and Tyrone	80	49	129
Londonderry	43	46	89
Total	908	363	1271

Table 7: Time intervals in weeks for civil bill cases

		Issue to disposal
Case	Antrim	38
	Ards	37
	Armagh and South Down	62
	Belfast	43
	Craigavon	49
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	51
	Londonderry	55
	Average	46

Excludes default judgements and office disposals

Table 8: Time intervals in weeks for civil bill applications

		Issue to disposal
Application	Antrim	7
	Ards	6
	Armagh and South Down	7
	Belfast	5
	Craigavon	9
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	4
	Londonderry	4
	Average	6

Excludes default judgements and office disposals

Equity

Table 9: Equity cases and applications received

Case	Antrim	8
	Ards	2
	Armagh and South Down	5
	Belfast	19
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	12
	Londonderry	6
	Total	52
Application	Antrim	3
	Ards	1
	Armagh and South Down	7
	Belfast	6
	Craigavon	2
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	5
	Londonderry	5
	Total	29

Table 10: Equity cases and applications disposed

		Court result	Non court disposals	Total
Case	Antrim	3	1	4
	Ards	6	1	7
	Armagh and South Down	19	2	21
	Belfast	10	1	11
	Craigavon	5	0	5
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	8	0	8
	Londonderry	6	0	6
	Total	57	5	62
Application	Antrim	1	1	2
	Ards	2	0	2
	Armagh and South Down	7	3	10
	Belfast	4	1	5
	Craigavon	2	0	2
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	3	0	3
	Londonderry	5	0	5
	Total	24	5	29

Table 11: Outstanding equity cases

Case	Antrim	50
	Ards	62
	Armagh and South Down	54
	Belfast	110
	Craigavon	23
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	59
	Londonderry	39
Total		397

Table 12: Time intervals in weeks

		Issue to disposal
Case	Antrim	77
	Ards	91
	Armagh and South Down	146
	Belfast	71
	Craigavon	62
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	82
	Londonderry	53
	Average	97
Application	Antrim	6
	Ards	5
	Armagh and South Down	35
	Belfast	4
	Craigavon	10
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	7
	Londonderry	16
	Average	17

Ejectment

Table 13: Ejectment cases received

Case	Antrim	21
	Ards	70
	Armagh and South Down	5
	Belfast	119
	Craigavon	22
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	12
	Londonderry	12
	Total	261

Table 14: Ejectment cases disposed

		Court result	Non court disposals	Office Disposal	Total
Case	Antrim	18	0	0	18
	Ards	59	1	0	60
	Armagh and South Down	3	1	1	5
	Belfast	55	0	0	55
	Craigavon	24	0	0	24
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	13	0	0	13
	Londonderry	15	0	0	15
	Total	187	2	1	190

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

Case	Antrim	4
	Ards	7
	Armagh and South Down	7
	Belfast	18
	Craigavon	6
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	6
	Londonderry	5
Total		53

Table 16: Time intervals in weeks

		Issue to disposal
Case	Antrim	8
	Ards	14
	Armagh and South Down	11
	Belfast	16
	Craigavon	13
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	20
	Londonderry	21
	Average	15

Excludes default judgements, non-court disposals and office disposals

Small Claims

Table 17: Number of small claims cases and applications received

Case	Antrim	47
	Ards	77
	Armagh and South Down	51
	Belfast	3297
	Craigavon	59
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	53
	Londonderry	56
	Total	3640
Application	Antrim	4
	Ards	8
	Armagh and South Down	3
	Belfast	23
	Craigavon	8
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	13
	Londonderry	11
	Total	70

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

Case	Antrim	43
	Ards	69
	Armagh and South Down	56
	Belfast	185
	Craigavon	59
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	51
	Londonderry	46
Total		509

Table 19: Number of small claims cases and applications disposed

		Court disposal	Non court disposal	Office disposal	Default judgment	Total
Case	Antrim	52	4	9	2	67
	Ards	76	0	23	3	102
	Armagh and South Down	60	3	3	0	66
	Belfast	164	4	636	1787	2591
	Craigavon	59	0	10	1	70
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	48	1	9	1	59
	Londonderry	49	1	13	0	63
	Total	508	13	703	1794	3018
Application	Antrim	1	0	0	0	1
	Ards	9	1	0	0	10
	Armagh and South Down	1	0	0	0	1
	Belfast	23	1	0	0	24
	Craigavon	6	0	0	0	6
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	9	0	0	0	9
	Londonderry	9	0	0	0	9
	Total	58	2	0	0	60

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

Antrim	65
Ards	149
Armagh and South Down	82
Belfast	170
Craigavon	105
Fermanagh and Tyrone	101
Londonderry	92
Total	764

Table 21: Time intervals in weeks

		Issue to disposal
Case	Antrim	16
	Ards	19
	Armagh and South Down	20
	Belfast	17
	Craigavon	21
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	27
	Londonderry	24
	Average	20
Application	Antrim	5
	Ards	13
	Armagh and South Down	4
	Belfast	4
	Craigavon	11
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	5
	Londonderry	5
	Average	7

Excludes default judgements, non-court disposals and office disposals

Criminal Damage

Table 22: Number of criminal damage cases and applications received

Case	Belfast	7
	Craigavon	2
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	1
	Total	10
Application	Belfast	1
	Londonderry	1
	Total	2

Table 23: Number of criminal damage cases and applications disposed

		Court disposal	Total
Case	Belfast	20	20
Case	Total	20	20

Table 24: Outstanding criminal damage cases

Antrim	1
Ards	2
Armagh and South Down	6
Belfast	62
Craigavon	19
Fermanagh and Tyrone	6
Londonderry	12
Total	108

Table 25: Time intervals in weeks

		Issue to disposal
Case	Belfast	123
Case	Total	123

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	24	20	1	4	2	51
Ards	33	16	1	5	0	55
Armagh and South Down	18	14	0	3	1	36
Belfast	30	19	0	1	4	54
Craigavon	25	16	2	3	1	47
Fermanagh and Tyrone	9	8	0	5	1	23
Londonderry	23	15	1	8	7	54
Total	162	108	5	29	16	320

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	24	29	0	3	7	63
Ards	33	15	0	2	1	51
Armagh and South Down	17	15	0	3	5	40
Belfast	37	16	0	0	1	54
Craigavon	40	11	0	3	4	58
Fermanagh and Tyrone	15	19	0	6	7	47
Londonderry	30	33	3	13	7	86
Total	196	138	3	30	32	399

Table 28: Matrimonial applications received

	Ancillary relief	Other	Total
Antrim	5	0	5
Ards	7	0	7
Armagh and South Down	8	0	8
Belfast	3	8	11
Craigavon	5	0	5
Fermanagh and Tyrone	9	1	10
Londonderry	16	1	17
Total	53	10	63

Table 29: Matrimonial applications disposed

	Ancillary relief	Matrimonial application to a master	Other	Total
Antrim	8	0	0	8
Ards	3	0	1	4
Armagh and South Down	4	0	0	4
Belfast	3	0	1	4
Craigavon	1	0	0	1
Fermanagh and Tyrone	5	0	0	5
Londonderry	14	1	3	18
Total	38	1	5	44

Table 30: Time intervals in weeks for divorce petitions

	Issue to date decree granted	Date decree granted to date absolute issued
Antrim	33	8
Ards	35	8
Armagh and South Down	35	9
Belfast	34	10
Craigavon	25	7
Fermanagh and Tyrone	55	9
Londonderry	39	8
Average	35	8

Table 31: Time intervals in weeks for divorce applications

	Issue to disposal
Antrim	57
Ards	22
Armagh and South Down	32
Craigavon	30
Fermanagh and Tyrone	37
Londonderry	57
Average	47

Excludes non-court disposals

Licences

Table 32: Licences received and disposed

	Licences Received	Licences Disposed
Antrim	6	4
Ards	3	6
Armagh and South Down	6	3
Belfast	17	19
Craigavon	4	4
Fermanagh and Tyrone	10	16
Londonderry	3	1
Total	49	53

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

Sitting Days

Table 33: County Court Sitting Days

	Number of sitting days	Average sitting	Total time	Total criminal time	Total civil time	Total family time
	Total time			Total criminal time	Total civil time	Total family time
Antrim	135	03:01	406:41	248:25	141:04	17:12
Ards	128	02:35	331:04	137:29	181:25	12:10
Armagh and South Down	123	02:39	326:44	204:28	115:25	06:43
Belfast	418	03:15	1357:45	749:29	374:08	234:08
Craigavon	132	02:53	381:15	164:33	118:38	98:04
Fermanagh and Tyrone	120	03:11	381:33	205:39	159:16	16:38
Londonderry	137	02:49	385:19	219:52	118:59	46:28
Total	1193	03:00	3570:21	1929:55	1209:03	431:23

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