County Court Bulletin

January - March 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 1,551 civil bills with NID’s received during the quarter, and 2,561 Civil Bills disposed of, with 1,336 civil bills disposed of in court and 1,225 disposed of in the office.
During the period there were 79 Equity cases received and 43 cases dealt with.
There were 318 ejectment cases received and 186 ejectment cases disposed of during the reporting period.
There were 3,152 small claims received and 2,463 disposed of during the period, of which 378 were disposed of in court and 1,345 were default judgments.
In total, 387 Decree Nisi’s were granted during the quarter, with 55% of these giving a reason of ‘2 years with consent’. There were 488 decree absolutes granted in the county court with the highest percentage being granted in Belfast division (23%).
There were 1,067 sitting days during the quarter with majority of time being spent on criminal business.

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

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

Case	Antrim	172
	Ards	228
	Armagh and South Down	142
	Belfast	2253
	Craigavon	197
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	206
	Londonderry	147
	Total	3345
Application	Antrim	131
	Ards	135
	Armagh and South Down	74
	Belfast	606
	Craigavon	99
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	66
	Londonderry	73
	Total	1184

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

	County court judge	District judge	Total
Antrim	113	52	165
Ards	170	45	215
Armagh and South Down	89	51	140
Belfast	355	188	543
Craigavon	127	58	185
Fermanagh and Tyrone	121	50	171
Londonderry	77	55	132
Total	1052	499	1551

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	95	55	42	14	14	220
	Ards	107	107	48	11	18	291
	Armagh and South Down	38	37	24	16	22	137
	Belfast	366	164	112	15	45	702
	Civil Processing Centre			24	614	18	656
	Craigavon	67	65	39	10	17	198
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	96	43	27	22	21	209
	Londonderry	41	55	28	4	20	148
	Total	810	526	344	706	175	2561
Application	Antrim	28	15	18			61
	Ards	16	21	33			70
	Armagh and South Down	18	33	13			64
	Belfast	79	44	96			219
	Civil Processing Centre			5			5
	Craigavon	9	20	22			51
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	38	9	15			62
	Londonderry	15	10	11			36
	Total	203	152	213			568

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

	No Value	Less than £1000	£1000 - 2999	£3000-4999	Over £5000	Total
Antrim	34	7	50	31	28	150
Ards	30	28	78	47	31	214
Armagh and South Down	27	5	15	11	17	75
Belfast	218	37	118	92	65	529
Craigavon	34	11	31	31	26	133
Fermanagh and Tyrone	38	7	31	33	30	139
Londonderry	31	13	29	14	9	96
Total	412	108	351	259	206	1336

Table 5: Outstanding civil bills with NID but no COR

	County court judge	District judge	Total
Antrim	279	117	396
Ards	260	81	341
Armagh and South Down	199	73	272
Belfast	821	317	1138
Craigavon	282	117	399
Fermanagh and Tyrone	293	129	422
Londonderry	212	136	348
Total	2346	970	3316

Table 6: Outstanding civil bills with COR

	County court judge	District judge	Total
Antrim	126	46	172
Ards	125	57	182
Armagh and South Down	95	46	138
Belfast	317	101	418
Craigavon	86	52	138
Fermanagh and Tyrone	106	36	142
Londonderry	109	57	166
Total	961	395	1356

Table 7: Time intervals in weeks for civil bill cases

		Issue to first listing	First listing to disposal	Issue to disposal
Case	Antrim	34	9	43
	Ards	32	7	40
	Armagh and South Down	35	11	46
	Belfast	33	10	44
	Craigavon	36	12	48
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	44	8	52
	Londonderry	39	22	61
	Total	35	10	46

Excludes default judgements and office disposals

Table 8: Time intervals in weeks for civil bill applications

		Issue to first listing	First listing to disposal	Issue to disposal
Application	Antrim	2	2	5
	Ards	3	3	6
	Armagh and South Down	5	6	12
	Belfast	2	2	4
	Craigavon	3	1	4
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	3	1	4
	Londonderry	2	1	3
	Total	3	3	6

Excludes default judgements and office disposals

Equity

Table 9: Equity cases and applications received

Case	Antrim	15
	Ards	11
	Armagh and South Down	5
	Belfast	24
	Craigavon	10
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	8
	Londonderry	6
	Total	79
Application	Antrim	5
	Ards	2
	Armagh and South Down	5
	Belfast	4
	Craigavon	7
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	5
	Londonderry	6
	Total	34

Table 10: Equity cases and applications disposed

		Court result - CCJ	Court result - DDJ	Non court disposals	Total
Case	Antrim	3			3
	Ards	2			2
	Armagh and South Down	1	1		2
	Belfast	11		2	13
	Craigavon	12		1	13
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	4			4
	Londonderry	5		1	6
	Total	38	1	4	43
Application	Antrim	2		1	3
	Ards			2	2
	Armagh and South Down	2			2
	Belfast	3	1	3	4
	Craigavon	1		1	5
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	4		3	7
	Londonderry	6		1	7
	Total	18	1	11	30

Table 11: Outstanding equity cases

Case	Antrim	49
	Ards	62
	Armagh and South Down	51
	Belfast	128
	Craigavon	31
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	64
	Londonderry	42
	Total	427

Table 12: Time intervals in weeks

		Issue to first listing	First listing to disposal	Issue to disposal
Case	Antrim	19	10	29
	Ards	22	25	48
	Armagh and South Down	13	20	33
	Belfast	27	23	50
	Craigavon	10	18	28
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	86	34	120
	Londonderry	22	23	44
	Total	26	21	47
Application	Antrim	2	0	2
	Armagh and South Down	3	37	38
	Belfast	2	0	3
	Craigavon	1	6	8
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	1	0	1
	Londonderry	1	11	12
	Total	1	9	10

Ejectments

Table 13: Ejectment cases received

Case	Antrim	28
	Ards	68
	Armagh and South Down	9
	Belfast	170
	Craigavon	27
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	6
	Londonderry	10
	Total	318

Table 14: Ejectment cases disposed

		Court result - CCJ	Court result - DDJ	Non court disposals	Total
Case	Antrim	3	36		39
	Ards	1	23	1	25
	Armagh and South Down		2	1	3
	Belfast		54	2	56
	Craigavon	1	37	1	39
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	3	3		6
	Londonderry		17	1	18
	Total	8	172	6	186

Table 15: Outstanding ejectment cases with NID

Case	Antrim	4
	Ards	9
	Armagh and South Down	3
	Belfast	7
	Craigavon	4
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	5
	Londonderry	5
	Total	37

Table 16: Time intervals in weeks

		Issue to first listing	First listing to disposal	Issue to disposal
Case	Antrim	8	0	8
	Ards	14	0	14
	Armagh and South Down	88	3	91
	Belfast	11	2	13
	Craigavon	13	0	13
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	12	3	15
	Londonderry	13	3	15
	Total	12	1	13

Excludes default judgements, non-court disposals and office disposals

Small Claims

Table 17: Number of small claims cases and applications received

		Issue to first listing	First listing to disposal	Issue to disposal
Case	Antrim	19	10	29
	Ards	22	25	48
	Armagh and South Down	13	20	33
	Belfast	27	23	50
	Craigavon	10	18	28
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	86	34	120
	Londonderry	22	23	44
	Total	26	21	47
Application	Antrim	2	0	2
	Armagh and South Down	3	37	38
	Belfast	2	0	3
	Craigavon	1	6	8
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	1	0	1
	Londonderry	1	11	12
	Total	1	9	10

Table 18: Number of small claims cases with NODs received

Case	Antrim	54
	Ards	68
	Armagh and South Down	44
	Belfast	153
	Craigavon	46
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	32
	Londonderry	33
	Total	430

Table 19: Number of small claims cases and applications disposed

		Court disposal	Non court disposal	Office disposal	Default judgement	Total
Case	Antrim	50	3	4	3	60
	Ards	46	2	74	6	128
	Armagh and South Down	41		1	1	43
	Belfast	129	9	611	1329	1078
	Craigavon	34	4	14	5	57
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	45		10	1	56
	Londonderry	33	5	3		41
	Total	378	23	717	1345	2463
Application	Antrim	2				2
	Ards	2	3			5
	Armagh and South Down	2	1			3
	Belfast	28				28
	Craigavon	6	2			8
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	7				7
	Londonderry	4	1			5
	Total	51	7			58

Table 20: Outstanding small claims with NOD

Antrim	111
Ards	177
Armagh and South Down	88
Belfast	251
Craigavon	106
Fermanagh and Tyrone	92
Londonderry	80
Total	905

Table 21: Time intervals in weeks

		Issue to first listing	First listing to disposal	Issue to disposal
Case	Antrim	12	2	14
	Ards	15	4	19
	Armagh and South Down	13	5	18
	Belfast	16	3	18
	Craigavon	15	2	17
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	14	2	16
	Londonderry	14	5	19
	Total	14	3	18
Application	Antrim	3	0	3
	Ards	3	0	3
	Armagh and South Down	3	2	5
	Belfast	3	2	5
	Craigavon	8	2	10
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	6	0	6
	Londonderry	3	1	4
	Total	4	1	8

Excludes default judgements, non-court disposals and office disposals

Table 22: Number of criminal damage cases and applications received

Case	Ards	1
	Armagh and South Down	3
	Belfast	23
	Craigavon	6
	Londonderry	4
	Total	37
Application	Craigavon	1
Application	Total	1

Table 23: Number of criminal damage cases and applications disposed

		Court disposal	Non court disposal	Total
Case	Belfast	5		5
Case	Total	5		5
Application	Craigavon		1	1
Application	Total		1	1

Table 24: Outstanding criminal damage cases

Antrim	3
Ards	4
Armagh and South Down	7
Belfast	99
Craigavon	22
Fermanagh and Tyrone	12
Londonderry	24
Total	171

Table 25: Time interval in weeks for criminal damage

		Issue to first listing	First listing to disposal	Issue to disposal
Case	Belfast	49	32	81
Case	Total	49	32	81
Application	Craigavon			1
Application	Total			1

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	32	21	1	5	3	62
Ards	29	19		3	2	53
Armagh and South Down	18	9	2	3	1	33
Belfast	55	27	1	4	5	92
Craigavon	35	11	4	2	2	54
Fermanagh and Tyrone	19	9	3	8	2	41
Londonderry	23	19	2	4	4	52
Total	211	115	13	29	19	387

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	24	5	7	4	73
Ards	50	23	1	2		76
Armagh and South Down	17	18	1	4	4	44
Belfast	59	41	3	2	5	110
Craigavon	50	24	2	7	3	86
Fermanagh and Tyrone	24	11		6	4	45
Londonderry	16	20	1	6	11	54
Total	249	161	13	34	31	488

Table 28: Matrimonial applications received

	Ancillary relief	Matrimonal application to a master	Other	Total
Antrim	7	1	2	10
Ards	3		2	5
Armagh and South Down	11			11
Belfast	9		27	36
Craigavon	7		4	11
Fermanagh and Tyrone	4		3	7
Londonderry	12	2	3	17
Total	53	3	41	97

Table 29: Matrimonial applications disposed

	Ancillary relief	Matrimonal application to a master	Other	Total
Antrim	5	1	3	9
Ards	3	1	2	6
Armagh and South Down	6			6
Belfast	7	1	1	9
Craigavon	9		2	11
Fermanagh and Tyrone	7		1	8
Londonderry	9	1	1	11
Total	46	4	10	60

Table 30: Time intervals in weeks for divorce petitions

	Issue to first listing	First listing to date decree granted	Issue to date decree granted	Date decree granted to date absolute granted
Antrim	23	0	23	7
Ards	24	0	25	8
Armagh and South Down	27	1	28	8
Belfast	27	0	18	9
Craigavon	21	0	21	7
Fermanagh and Tyrone	40	1	41	9
Londonderry	39	0	39	9
Total	28	0	29	8

Table 31: Time intervals in weeks for divorce applications

	Issue to first listing	First listing to disposal	Issue to disposal
Antrim	4	29	33
Ards	6	21	27
Armagh and South Down	4	27	31
Belfast	5	6	12
Craigavon	7	16	22
Fermanagh and Tyrone	11	9	20
Londonderry	19	58	77
Total	9	25	34

Excludes non-court disposals

Table 32: Licences received and disposed

	Licence applications received	Licence applications dealt with
Antrim	5	2
Ards	0	0
Armagh and South Down	8	8
Belfast	23	10
Craigavon	0	0
Fermanagh and Tyrone	2	7
Londonderry	8	6
Total	46	33

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	11	2:40:06	296:12:00	166:06:00	118:05:00	12:00:00
Ards	107	2:52:10	307:03:00	126:08:00	170:50:00	10:05:00
Armagh and South Down	100	3:25:04	341:47:00	231:21:00	94:46:00	15:40:00
Belfast	406	2:19:29	943:54:00	501:58:00	320:08:00	121:48:00
Craigavon	112	3:02:26	340:34:00	178:08:00	108:06:00	54:20:00
Fermanagh and Tyrone	103	2:31:28	260:02:00	139:50:00	100:31:00	19:41:00
Londonderry	128	2:36:45	334:25:48	200:04:48	89:40:00	44:41:00
Total	1067	2:38:47	2823:57:48	1543:36:48	1002:06:00	278:15:00

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