County Court Bulletin

July - September 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 1,637 civil bills with NID’s received during the quarter, and 1,998 Civil Bills disposed of, with 856 civil bills disposed of in court and 1,142 disposed of in the office.
During the period there were 68 Equity cases received and 55 cases dealt with.
There were 259 ejectment cases received and 153 ejectment cases disposed of during the reporting period.
There were 3,356 small claims received and 2,575 disposed of during the period, of which 276 were disposed of in court and 1,565 were default judgments.
In total, 343 Decrees Nisi were granted during the quarter, with 52% of these giving a reason of ‘2 years with consent’. There were 393 decrees absolute granted in the county court with over one fifth being granted in Belfast division (21%).
There were 573 sitting days during the quarter with 44% 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	189
	Ards	258
	Armagh and South Down	164
	Belfast	2516
	Craigavon	181
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	144
	Londonderry	131
	Total	3583
Application	Antrim	123
	Ards	117
	Armagh and South Down	93
	Belfast	604
	Craigavon	106
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	78
	Londonderry	92
	Total	1213

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

	County court judge	District Judge	Total
Antrim	119	42	161
Ards	138	91	229
Armagh and South Down	87	55	142
Belfast	438	229	667
Craigavon	95	68	163
Fermanagh and Tyrone	98	54	152
Londonderry	69	54	123
Total	1044	593	1637

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	61	58	34	1	11	165
	Ards	112	52	31	6	10	211
	Armagh and South Down	29	29	18	2	10	88
	Belfast	182	142	66	8	29	427
	Civil Processing Centre			67	621	105	793
	Craigavon	23	26	32	4	14	99
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	49	41	26		10	126
	Londonderry	13	39	25	1	11	89
	Total	469	387	299	643	200	1998
Application	Antrim	29	26	19			74
	Ards	23	11	23			57
	Armagh and South Down	4	21	23			48
	Belfast	54	18	71			142
	Civil Processing Centre			11			11
	Craigavon	13	12	24			49
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	26	9	10			45
	Londonderry	12	9	19			40
	Total	160	106	200			466

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	21	9	37	32	20	119
	Ards	44	17	32	41	30	164
	Armagh and South Down	10	8	18	11	11	58
	Belfast	141	27	73	58	25	324
	Craigavon	9	7	18	8	7	49
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	27	9	23	15	16	90
	Londonderry	20	7	13	9	3	52
	Total	272	84	214	174	112	856

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

Table 5: Outstanding civil bills with NID but no COR

	County Court Juge	District Judge	Total
Antrim	273	100	373
Ards	257	138	395
Armagh and South Down	217	99	316
Belfast	960	366	1326
Craigavon	293	130	423
Fermanagh and Tyrone	263	95	358
Londonderry	221	137	358
Total	2484	1065	3549

Table 6: Outstanding civil bills with COR

	County Court Juge	District Judge	Total
Antrim	123	42	165
Ards	149	57	206
Armagh and South Down	126	53	179
Belfast	296	145	441
Craigavon	121	85	206
Fermanagh and Tyrone	126	74	200
Londonderry	107	57	164
Total	1048	513	1561

Table 7: Time intervals in weeks for civil bill cases

		Issue to Disposal
Case	Antrim	42
	Ards	37
	Armagh and South Down	46
	Belfast	41
	Craigavon	45
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	44
	Londonderry	60
	Total	42

Table 8: Time intervals in weeks for civil bill applications

		Issue to Disposal
Application	Antrim	5
	Ards	9
	Armagh and South Down	5
	Belfast	6
	Craigavon	8
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	7
	Londonderry	13
	Total	7

Equity

Table 9: Equity cases and applications received

Case	Antrim	6
	Ards	7
	Armagh and South Down	7
	Belfast	25
	Craigavon	5
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	11
	Londonderry	7
	Total	68
Application	Antrim	2
	Ards	9
	Armagh and South Down	2
	Belfast	5
	Craigavon	1
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	6
	Londonderry	4
	Total	29

Table 10: Equity cases and applications disposed

		Court Result	Non Court Disposals	Total
Case	Antrim	11	1	12
	Ards	9		9
	Armagh and South Down		1	1
	Belfast	7		7
	Craigavon	2		2
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	20		20
	Londonderry	3	1	4
	Total	52	3	55
Application	Antrim	1		1
	Ards	5	1	6
	Armagh and South Down		1	1
	Belfast	5	1	6
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	4	3	7
	Londonderry	3		3
	Total	18	6	24

Table 11: Outstanding equity cases

Case	Antrim	53
	Ards	62
	Armagh and South Down	55
	Belfast	121
	Craigavon	37
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	65
	Londonderry	47
	Total	440

Table 12: Time intervals in weeks

		Issue to Disposal
Case	Antrim	47
	Ards	38
	Belfast	32
	Craigavon	86
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	92
	Londonderry	37
	Total	62
Application	Antrim	22
	Ards	3
	Belfast	10
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	35
	Londonderry	7
	Total	14

Ejectment

Table 13: Ejectment cases received

Case	Antrim	27
	Ards	44
	Armagh and South Down	13
	Belfast	127
	Craigavon	33
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	5
	Londonderry	10
	Total	259

Table 14: Ejectment cases disposed

		Court Result	Non court disposals	Total
Case	Antrim	19		19
	Ards	67		67
	Armagh and South Down	2		2
	Belfast	35	3	38
	Craigavon	19		19
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	5		5
	Londonderry	3		3
	Total	150	3	153

Table 15: Outstanding ejectment cases

Case	Antrim	5
	Ards	8
	Armagh and South Down	3
	Belfast	13
	Craigavon	5
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	6
	Londonderry	5
	Total	45

Table 16: Time intervals in weeks

Case		Issue to disposal
	Antrim	12
	Ards	18
	Armagh and South Down	30
	Belfast	17
	Craigavon	23
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	70
	Londonderry	10
	Total	19

Excludes default judgements, non-court disposals and office disposals

Small Claims

Table 17: Number of small claims cases and applications received

Case
	Antrim	65
	Ards	49
	Armagh and South Down	34
	Belfast	3093
	Craigavon	43
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	38
	Londonderry	34
	Total	3356
Application	Antrim	2
	Ards	16
	Armagh and South Down	1
	Belfast	19
	Craigavon	9
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	5
	Londonderry	6
	Total	58

Table 18: Number of small claims cases with NODs received

Case
	Antrim	65
	Ards	56
	Armagh and South Down	55
	Belfast	149
	Craigavon	47
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	48
	Londonderry	44
	Total	464

Table 19: Number of small claims cases and applications disposed

Case		Court Disposal	Non court disposal	Office disposal	Default judgement	Total
	Antrim	32	1	7		40
	Ards	38		7	11	56
	Armagh and South Down	21		4	2	27
	Belfast	94	11	699	1540	2344
	Craigavon	23	2	8	5	38
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	27		4	5	36
	Londonderry	25	2	5	2	34
	Total	260	16	734	1565	2575
Application	Antrim	3				3
	Ards	6				6
	Armagh and South Down	2				2
	Belfast	9				9
	Craigavon	4	1			5
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	3				3
	Londonderry	2				2
	Total	29	1			30

Table 20: Outstanding small claims with NOD

Antrim	124
Ards	168
Armagh and South Down	98
Belfast	269
Craigavon	125
Fermanagh and Tyrone	110
Londonderry	97
Total	991

Table 21: Time intervals in weeks

Case		Issue to disposal
	Antrim	19
	Ards	21
	Armagh and South Down	19
	Belfast	20
	Craigavon	26
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	18
	Londonderry	20
	Total	20
Application	Antrim	11
	Ards	5
	Armagh and South Down	10
	Belfast	5
	Craigavon	3
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	12
	Londonderry	10
	Total	7

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	1
	Belfast	4
	Londonderry	2
	Total	7
Application	Belfast	1
	Londonderry	1
	Total	2

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	Londonderry		1	1
Application	Total		1	1

Table 24: Outstanding criminal damage cases

Antrim	1
Ards	2
Armagh and South Down	8
Belfast	98
Craigavon	18
Fermanagh and Tyrone	13
Londonderry	17
Total	157

Table 25: Time interval in weeks for criminal damage

		Issue to disposal
Case	Belfast	62
Case	Total	62
Application	Londonderry	154
Application	Total	154

Excludes default judgements and office disposals

Divorces

Table 26: Divorce Petitions by type of decree

	2 years with consent	5 years separation	Adultery	Unreasonable behaviour	Combination of grounds/other	Total
Antrim	33	30	1	4	2	70
Ards	24	21	1	1	2	49
Armagh and South Down	23	15	1		3	42
Belfast	33	20	2	2		57
Craigavon	30	11	1	3	2	47
Fermanagh and Tyrone	15	12		3	5	35
Londonderry	19	10	2	8	4	43
Total	177	119	8	21	18	343

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	36	29	2	10	1	78
Ards	32	11	1	1		45
Armagh and South Down	21	10		3	1	35
Belfast	40	30	4	5	3	82
Craigavon	28	12	1	4	3	48
Fermanagh and Tyrone	23	14		7	2	46
Londonderry	23	24	1	6	5	59
Total	203	130	9	36	15	393

Table 28: Matrimonial applications received

	Ancillary relief	Matrimonal application to a master	Other	Total
Antrim	6	1	1	8
Ards	1		2	3
Armagh and South Down	5		1	6
Belfast			18	18
Craigavon	5			5
Fermanagh and Tyrone	8		1	9
Londonderry	12	2	2	16
Total	37	3	25	65

Table 29: Matrimonial applications disposed

	Ancillary relief	Matrimonal application to a master	Other	Total
Antrim	6	3	2	11
Ards	3			3
Armagh and South Down	16	1	1	18
Belfast	7			7
Craigavon	5			5
Fermanagh and Tyrone	9	1		10
Londonderry	16	3		19
Total	62	8	3	73

Table 30: Time intervals in weeks for divorce petitions

	Issue to date decree granted	Date decree granted to date absolutle issued
Antrim	29	8
Ards	35	7
Armagh and South Down	36	9
Belfast	29	9
Craigavon	39	7
Fermanagh and Tyrone	35	10
Londonderry	37	6
Total	34	8

Table 31: Time intervals in weeks for divorce applications

	Issue to disposal
Antrim	52
Ards	81
Armagh and South Down	32
Belfast	32
Craigavon	25
Fermanagh and Tyrone	32
Londonderry	57
Total	43

Excludes non-court disposals

Licences

Table 32: Licences received and disposed

	Licence applications received	Licence applications dealt with
Antrim	8	7
Ards	5	3
Armagh and South Down	13	1
Belfast	3	14
Craigavon	10	7
Fermanagh and Tyrone	2	2
Londonderry	5
Total	46	34

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	64	3:18:53	212:09:14	98:34:00	105:05:14	8:30:00
Ards	60	2:58:13	178:13:00	44:02:00	119:31:00	14:40:00
Armagh and South Down	55	2:52:07	157:47:00	72:59:00	64:44:00	20:04:00
Belfast	242	2:19:10	561:19:27	237:33:00	231:28:27	92:18:00
Craigavon	49	2:26:08	119:21:14	36:43:00	55:59:14	26:39:00
Fermanagh and Tyrone	48	3:17:58	158:23:00	56:05:00	82:14:00	20:04:00
Londonderry	55	3:25:17	188:11:24	144:38:24	31:10:00	12:23:00
Total	573	2:44:57	1575:24:19	690:34:24	690:11:55	194:38:00

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