County Court Bulletin

January – March 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 1,876 civil bills with NID’s received during the quarter, and 2,940 Civil Bills disposed of, with 1,519 civil bills disposed of in court and 1,421 disposed of in the office.
During the period there were 68 Equity cases received and 79 cases dealt with.
There were 383 ejectment cases received and 203 ejectment cases disposed of during the reporting period.
There were 3,765 small claims received and 3,406 disposed of during the period, of which 573 were disposed of in court and 1,901 were default judgments.
In total, 285 Decrees Nisi were granted during the quarter, with 42% of these giving a reason of ‘2 years with consent’. There were 359 decrees absolute granted in the county court almost one fifth being granted in Belfast division (18%).
There were 1,185 sitting days during the quarter with 56% of time being spent on criminal business.

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	223
	Ards	244
	Armagh and South Down	133
	Belfast	2656
	Craigavon	181
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	172
	Londonderry	156
	Total	3765
Application	Antrim	136
	Ards	168
	Armagh and South Down	97
	Belfast	640
	Craigavon	129
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	101
	Londonderry	111
	Total	1382

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

	County court judge	District judge	Total
Antrim	151	78	229
Ards	187	54	241
Armagh and South Down	110	47	157
Belfast	463	251	714
Craigavon	124	72	196
Fermanagh and Tyrone	119	59	178
Londonderry	92	69	161
Total	1246	630	1876

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	66	74	74	8	20	242
	Ards	182	87	64	15	16	364
	Armagh and South Down	70	61	24	1	14	170
	Belfast	324	210	121	22	87	764
	Civil Processing Centre			31	690	21	742
	Craigavon	50	64	60	9	30	213
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	99	66	44	6	10	225
	Londonderry	70	96	34	1	19	220
	Total	861	658	452	752	217	2940
Application	Antrim	26	8	19			53
	Ards	37	17	38			92
	Armagh and South Down	20	18	23			61
	Belfast	72	27	97			196
	Civil Processing Centre			9			9
	Craigavon	28	3	26			57
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	26	17	26			69
	Londonderry	48	33	19			100
	Total	257	123	257			637

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	30	20	33	33	24	140
	Ards	42	26	70	78	53	269
	Armagh and South Down	32	15	33	26	25	131
	Belfast	192	51	119	97	75	534
	Craigavon	24	15	21	29	25	114
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	42	14	33	32	44	165
	Londonderry	69	14	37	28	18	166
	Total	431	155	346	323	264	1519

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	314	133	447
Ards	254	115	369
Armagh and South Down	261	119	380
Belfast	1042	387	1429
Craigavon	316	119	435
Fermanagh and Tyrone	264	106	370
Londonderry	243	136	379
Total	2694	1115	3809

Table 6: Outstanding civil bills with COR

	County court judge	District judge		Total
Antrim	98	36	134
Ards	128	43	171
Armagh and South Down	88	37	125
Belfast	362	117	479
Craigavon	99	57	156
Fermanagh and Tyrone	94	40	134
Londonderry	72	35	107
Total	941	365	1306

Table 7: Time intervals in weeks for civil bill cases

		Issue to disposal
Case	Antrim	42
	Ards	36
	Armagh and South Down	50
	Belfast	45
	Craigavon	49
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	54
	Londonderry	93
	Total	50

Excludes default judgements and office disposals

Table 8: Time intervals in weeks for civil bill applications

		Issue to disposal
Application	Antrim	4
	Ards	5
	Armagh and South Down	5
	Belfast	5
	Craigavon	5
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	5
	Londonderry	44
	Total	13

Excludes default judgements and office disposals

Equity

Table 9: Equity cases and applications received


Case	Antrim	3
	Ards	8
	Armagh and South Down	9
	Belfast	21
	Craigavon	9
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	8
	Londonderry	10
	Total	68
Application	Antrim	5
	Ards	3
	Armagh and South Down	3
	Belfast	2
	Craigavon	1
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	7
	Londonderry	7
	Total	28

Table 10: Equity cases and applications disposed

		Court result	Non court disposals	Total
Case	Antrim	7	1	8
	Ards	2	1	3
	Armagh and South Down	10		10
	Belfast	12		12
	Craigavon	8	1	9
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	18	6	24
	Londonderry	12	1	13
	Total	69	10	79
Application	Antrim		1	1
	Ards	4	1	5
	Armagh and South Down	1		1
	Belfast	1		1
	Craigavon	4		4
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	4	2	6
	Londonderry	9	2	11
	Total	23	6	29

Table 11: Outstanding equity cases

Case	Antrim	45
	Ards	60
	Armagh and South Down	47
	Belfast	124
	Craigavon	33
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	57
	Londonderry	39
Total		405

Table 12: Time intervals in weeks

		Issue to disposal
Case	Antrim	57
	Ards	118
	Armagh and South Down	53
	Belfast	81
	Craigavon	48
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	105
	Londonderry	113
	Total	84
Application	Ards	5
	Armagh and South Down	9
	Belfast	28
	Craigavon	14
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	6
	Londonderry	63
	Total	31

Ejectment

Table 13: Ejectment cases received

Case	Antrim	46
	Ards	65
	Armagh and South Down	17
	Belfast	176
	Craigavon	63
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	8
	Londonderry	8
	Total	383

Table 14: Ejectment cases disposed

		Court result	Non court disposals	Total
Case	Antrim	22	1	23
	Ards	35	1	36
	Armagh and South Down	13	1	14
	Belfast	79		79
	Craigavon	39		39
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	2		2
	Londonderry	10		10
	Total	200	3	203

Table 15: Outstanding ejectment cases with NID

Case	Antrim	4
	Ards	13
	Armagh and South Down	6
	Belfast	15
	Craigavon	9
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	7
	Londonderry	9
Total		63

Table 16: Time intervals in weeks

		Issue to disposal
Case	Antrim	14
	Ards	12
	Armagh and South Down	14
	Belfast	13
	Craigavon	16
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	109
	Londonderry	47
	Total	16

Excludes default judgements, non-court disposals and office disposals

Small Claims

Table 17: Number of small claims cases and applications received

Case	Antrim	41
	Ards	72
	Armagh and South Down	36
	Belfast	3505
	Craigavon	28
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	48
	Londonderry	35
	Total	3765
Application	Antrim	7
	Ards	10
	Armagh and South Down	5
	Belfast	33
	Craigavon	3
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	11
	Londonderry	4
	Total	73

Table 18: Number of small claims cases with NODs received

Case	Antrim	55
	Ards	67
	Armagh and South Down	45
	Belfast	193
	Craigavon	38
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	45
	Londonderry	33
Total		476

Table 19: Number of small claims cases and applications disposed

		Court disposal	Non court disposal	Office disposal	Default judgement	Total
Case	Antrim	59	10	6	6	81
	Ards	97	1	55	3	156
	Armagh and South Down	67		3	2	72
	Belfast	180	6	821	1885	2892
	Craigavon	52	1	16	1	70
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	66	1	8	3	78
	Londonderry	52		4	1	57
	Total	573	19	913	1901	3406
Application	Antrim	4				4
	Ards	8				8
	Armagh and South Down	2				2
	Belfast	39	1			40
	Craigavon	6				6
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	7				7
	Londonderry	3				3
	Total	69	1			70

Table 20: Outstanding small claims with NOD

Antrim	111
Ards	153
Armagh and South Down	77
Belfast	327
Craigavon	98
Fermanagh and Tyrone	109
Londonderry	76
Total	951

Table 21: Time intervals in weeks

		Issue to disposal
Case	Antrim	19
	Ards	18
	Armagh and South Down	17
	Belfast	21
	Craigavon	22
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	26
	Londonderry	19
	Total	20
Application	Antrim	3
	Ards	8
	Armagh and South Down	7
	Belfast	6
	Craigavon	10
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	8
	Londonderry	4
	Total	6

Excludes default judgements, non-court disposals and office disposals

Criminal Damage

Table 22: Number of criminal damage cases and applications received

Case	Belfast	4
	Craigavon	1
	Londonderry	1
	Total	6
Application	Londonderry	1
Application	Total	1

Table 23: Number of criminal damage cases and applications disposed

		Court disposal	Total
Case	Belfast	14	14
Case	Total	14	14

Table 24: Outstanding criminal damage cases

Antrim	1
Ards	2
Armagh and South Down	9
Belfast	90
Craigavon	19
Fermanagh and Tyrone	12
Londonderry	14
Total	147

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 decree nisi

	2 years with consent	5 years separation	Adultery	Unreasonable behaviour	Combination of grounds/other	Total
Antrim	12	17	1	5	5	40
Ards	23	13	1	1		38
Armagh and South Down	18	18	2	6	2	46
Belfast	31	27		3	5	66
Craigavon	17	10		1		28
Family Division				1		1
Fermanagh and Tyrone	7	12	2	1	5	27
Londonderry	13	18		6	2	39
Total	121	115	6	24	19	285

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	30	21	1	4	4	60
Ards	27	13	2			42
Armagh and South Down	19	18	1	2	2	42
Belfast	31	30	1	2	2	66
Craigavon	29	16		4	5	54
Fermanagh and Tyrone	13	9	2	7	2	33
Londonderry	23	21		13	5	62
Total	172	128	7	32	20	359

Table 28: Matrimonial applications received

	Ancillary relief	Matrimonial application to a master	Other	Total
Antrim	12		2	14
Ards	3			3
Armagh and South Down	8			8
Belfast	4		37	41
Craigavon	10		1	11
Fermanagh and Tyrone	8			8
Londonderry	13	2	5	20
Total	58	2	45	105

Table 29: Matrimonial applications disposed

	Ancillary relief	Other	Total
Antrim	7	2	9
Ards	2		2
Armagh and South Down	13		13
Belfast	2	1	3
Craigavon	6	1	7
Fermanagh and Tyrone	10	1	11
Londonderry	18	4	22
Total	58	9	67

Table 30: Time intervals in weeks for divorce petitions

	Issue to date decree nisi granted	Date decree nisi granted to date absolute issued
Antrim	26	7
Ards	22	8
Armagh and South Down	41	7
Belfast	38	8
Craigavon	27	7
Family Division	20	.
Fermanagh and Tyrone	38	9
Londonderry	30	8
Total	32	8

Table 31: Time intervals in weeks for divorce applications

	Issue to disposal
Antrim	43
Ards	39
Armagh and South Down	61
Belfast	24
Craigavon	30
Fermanagh and Tyrone	36
Londonderry	58
Total	48

Excludes non-court disposals

Licences

Table 32: Licences received and disposed

	Licenses Received	Licences Disposed
Antrim	12	6
Ards	4	1
Armagh and South Down	4	7
Belfast	22	5
Craigavon	5	1
Fermanagh and Tyrone	30	13
Londonderry	3	2
Total	80	35

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	133	2:46	369:02	247:07	117:05	4:50
Ards	123	2:38	323:13	129:25	175:35	18:13
Armagh and South Down	124	2:42	334:13	141:03	158:45	34:25
Belfast	434	2:51	1234:10	757:51	366:09	105:13
Craigavon	112	3:10	355:17	195:05	112:15	47:57
Fermanagh and Tyrone	115	2:34	295:50	147:24	125:50	22:36
Londonderry	144	3:06	447:21	271:29	124:57	50:55
Total	1185	2:50	3359:08	1889:25	1180:37	284:09

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