County Court Bulletin

July - September 2009 (PROVISIONAL FIGURES)

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 1,852 civil bills with a notice of intention to defend (NID) received during the quarter of July to September 2009. A total of 2,203 civil bills were disposed of during the quarter, of which 765 civil bills were disposed of in court.
During the same period there were 48 equity cases received and 38 cases dealt with.
There were 221 ejectment cases received and 156 ejectment cases disposed of during the reporting period.
There were 3,329 small claims received and 3,011 disposed of during the period, of which 371 were disposed of in court and 1,793 were default judgments.
In total, 270 decrees nisi were granted during the quarter, with 49% of these giving a reason of ‘2 years with consent’. There were 287 decrees absolute granted in the county court.
There were 574 sitting days during the quarter, with 53% of time having been 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	201
	Ards	262
	Armagh and South Down	128
	Belfast	2567
	Craigavon	195
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	171
	Londonderry	158
	Total	3682
Application	Antrim	99
	Ards	117
	Armagh and South Down	84
	Belfast	590
	Craigavon	87
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	73
	Londonderry	114
	Total	1164

Table 2: Number of ordinary civil bill cases with notice of intention to defend (NID) received by judicial level

	County court judge	District judge	Total
Antrim	119	71	190
Ards	179	93	272
Armagh and South Down	61	53	114
Belfast	490	235	725
Craigavon	144	64	208
Fermanagh and Tyrone	97	66	163
Londonderry	97	83	180
Total	1187	665	1852

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	20	39	62	8	21	150
	Ards	78	49	60	6	21	214
	Armagh and South Down	16	47	32	0	8	103
	Belfast	146	159	103	5	64	477
	Civil Processing Centre	0	0	39	780	26	845
	Craigavon	18	29	35	7	18	107
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	57	19	62	4	19	161
	Londonderry	51	37	41	3	14	146
	Total	386	379	434	813	191	2203
Application	Antrim	10	11	24	0	0	45
	Ards	14	11	24	0	0	49
	Armagh and South Down	10	20	13	0	0	43
	Belfast	74	15	74	0	0	163
	Civil Processing Centre	0	0	1	0	0	1
	Craigavon	16	8	16	0	0	40
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	30	9	15	0	0	54
	Londonderry	25	21	14	0	0	60
	Total	179	95	181	0	0	455

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	16	3	19	12	9	59
	Ards	22	15	41	26	23	127
	Armagh and South Down	16	9	21	11	6	63
	Belfast	96	35	66	54	54	305
	Craigavon	12	8	13	5	9	47
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	14	4	21	20	17	76
	Londonderry	37	9	23	15	4	88
	Total	213	83	204	143	122	765

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	298	122	420
Ards	250	129	379
Armagh and South Down	249	113	362
Belfast	1117	439	1556
Craigavon	328	129	457
Fermanagh and Tyrone	281	136	417
Londonderry	236	163	399
Total	2759	1231	3990

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

	County court judge	District judge	Total
Antrim	168	54	222
Ards	164	61	225
Armagh and South Down	111	45	156
Belfast	375	139	514
Craigavon	122	56	178
Fermanagh and Tyrone	112	59	171
Londonderry	98	51	149
Total	1150	465	1615

Table 7: Time intervals in weeks for civil bill cases

		Issue to disposal
Case	Antrim	41
	Ards	41
	Armagh and South Down	43
	Belfast	41
	Craigavon	56
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	52
	Londonderry	66
	Northern Ireland	46

Excludes default judgements and office disposals

Table 8: Time intervals in weeks for civil bill applications

		Issue to disposal
Application	Antrim	6
	Ards	6
	Armagh and South Down	9
	Belfast	7
	Craigavon	10
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	5
	Londonderry	15
	Northern Ireland	8

Excludes default judgements and office disposals

Equity

Table 9: Equity cases and applications received

Case	Antrim	6
	Ards	3
	Armagh and South Down	15
	Belfast	13
	Craigavon	3
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	6
	Londonderry	2
	Total	48
Application	Antrim	4
	Ards	5
	Armagh and South Down	7
	Belfast	4
	Craigavon	2
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	2
	Londonderry	8
	Total	32

Table 10: Equity cases and applications disposed

		Court result	Non court disposal	Total
Case	Antrim	2	2	4
	Ards	2	1	3
	Armagh and South Down	2	3	5
	Belfast	6	0	6
	Craigavon	4	0	4
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	9	1	10
	Londonderry	5	1	6
	Total	30	8	38
Application	Antrim	0	2	2
	Ards	2	3	5
	Armagh and South Down	2	1	3
	Craigavon	1	1	2
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	1	0	1
	Londonderry	4	2	6
	Total	10	9	19

Table 11: Outstanding equity cases

Case	Antrim	46
	Ards	66
	Armagh and South Down	50
	Belfast	113
	Craigavon	29
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	54
	Londonderry	35
Total		393

Table 12: Time intervals in weeks

		Issue to disposal
Case	Antrim	63
	Ards	87
	Armagh and South Down	67
	Belfast	53
	Craigavon	32
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	73
	Londonderry	74
	Northern Ireland	64
Application	Ards	12
	Armagh and South Down	18
	Craigavon	0
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	0
	Londonderry	7
	Northern Ireland	9

Ejectment

Table 13: Ejectment cases received

Case	Antrim	17
	Ards	44
	Armagh and South Down	8
	Belfast	111
	Craigavon	25
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	7
	Londonderry	9
	Total	221

Table 14: Ejectment cases disposed

		Court result	Non court disposal	Total
Case	Antrim	5	0	5
	Ards	53	2	55
	Armagh and South Down	9	1	10
	Belfast	53	0	53
	Craigavon	19	0	19
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	6	1	7
	Londonderry	5	2	7
	Total	150	6	156

Table 15: Outstanding ejectment cases with NID

Case	Antrim	3
	Ards	12
	Armagh and South Down	5
	Belfast	20
	Craigavon	7
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	9
	Londonderry	6
Total		62

Table 16: Time intervals in weeks

		Issue to disposal
Case	Antrim	7
	Ards	22
	Armagh and South Down	22
	Belfast	11
	Craigavon	20
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	37
	Londonderry	34
	Northern Ireland	18

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	76
	Armagh and South Down	56
	Belfast	2999
	Craigavon	50
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	58
	Londonderry	43
	Total	3329
Application	Antrim	4
	Ards	10
	Armagh and South Down	5
	Belfast	56
	Craigavon	6
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	8
	Londonderry	6
	Total	95

Table 18: Number of small claims cases with NODs received

Case	Antrim	59
	Ards	87
	Armagh and South Down	60
	Belfast	177
	Craigavon	48
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	64
	Londonderry	40
Total		535

Table 19: Number of small claims cases and applications disposed

		Court disposal	Non court disposal	Office disposal	Default judgement	Total
Case	Antrim	29	19	6	2	56
	Ards	49	0	12	3	64
	Armagh and South Down	47	6	2	1	56
	Belfast	169	5	775	1784	2733
	Craigavon	16	1	8	2	27
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	35	0	8	1	44
	Londonderry	26	0	5	0	31
	Total	371	31	816	1793	3011
Application	Antrim	1	1	0	0	2
	Ards	7	0	0	0	7
	Armagh and South Down	2	1	0	0	3
	Belfast	39	0	0	0	39
	Craigavon	2	3	0	0	5
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	4	0	0	0	4
	Londonderry	5	1	0	0	6
	Total	60	6	0	0	66

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

Antrim	123
Ards	203
Armagh and South Down	81
Belfast	275
Craigavon	121
Fermanagh and Tyrone	129
Londonderry	107
Total	1039

Table 21: Time intervals in weeks

		Issue to disposal
Case	Antrim	24
	Ards	23
	Armagh and South Down	19
	Belfast	20
	Craigavon	23
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	23
	Londonderry	21
	Northern Ireland	21
Application	Antrim	12
	Ards	12
	Armagh and South Down	3
	Belfast	6
	Craigavon	8
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	9
	Londonderry	7
	Northern Ireland	7

Excludes default judgements, non-court disposals and office disposals

Criminal Damage

Table 22: Number of criminal damage cases and applications received

Case	Ards	1
	Armagh and South Down	1
	Belfast	7
	Craigavon	2
	Fermanagh and Tyrone	1
	Total	12
Application	Antrim	1
	Londonderry	1
	Total	2

Table 23: Number of criminal damage cases and applications disposed

		Court disposal	Total
Case	Belfast	9	9
Case	Total	9	9
Application	Londonderry	1	1
Application	Total	1	1

Table 24: Outstanding criminal damage cases

Antrim	1
Ards	3
Armagh and South Down	11
Belfast	88
Craigavon	20
Fermanagh and Tyrone	5
Londonderry	12
Total	140

Table 25: Time intervals in weeks

		Issue to disposal
Case	Belfast	94
Case	Total	94
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	22	13	2	7	0	44
Ards	13	9	2	1	0	25
Armagh and South Down	15	15	2	3	3	38
Belfast	34	18	1	3	2	58
Craigavon	0	0	0	2	0	30
Family Division	0	0	0	1	0	1
Fermanagh and Tyrone	9	4	1	3	2	19
Londonderry	22	14	3	11	5	55
Total	132	84	11	31	12	270

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	28	20	2	6	1	57
Ards	32	16	3	0	0	51
Armagh and South Down	13	17	0	2	4	36
Belfast	23	20	0	2	1	46
Craigavon	14	7	1	1	0	23
Fermanagh and Tyrone	15	14	0	5	2	36
Londonderry	19	11	1	4	3	38
Total	144	105	7	20	11	287

Table 28: Matrimonial applications received

	Ancillary relief	Matrimonial application to a master	Other	Total
Antrim	6	0	2	8
Ards	3	0	0	3
Armagh and South Down	9	0	1	10
Belfast	3	0	28	31
Craigavon	0	1	1	2
Family Division	0	1	0	1
Fermanagh and Tyrone	9	0	0	9
Londonderry	19	3	5	27
Total	49	5	37	91

Table 29: Matrimonial applications disposed

	Ancillary relief	Matrimonial application to a master	Other	Total
Antrim	3	0	0	3
Ards	4	0	0	4
Armagh and South Down	8	0	1	9
Belfast	2	0	1	3
Craigavon	1	0	0	1
Fermanagh and Tyrone	7	0	0	7
Londonderry	4	3	2	9
Total	29	3	4	36

Table 30: Time intervals in weeks for divorce petitions

	Issue to date decree granted	Date decree granted to date absolute issued
Antrim	27	8
Ards	31	2
Armagh and South Down	39	8
Belfast	39	4
Craigavon	43	9
Family Division	32	.
Fermanagh and Tyrone	43	8
Londonderry	35	8
Northern Ireland	36	8

Table 31: Time intervals in weeks for divorce applications

	Issue to disposal
Antrim	24
Ards	43
Armagh and South Down	29
Belfast	18
Craigavon	43
Fermanagh and Tyrone	50
Londonderry	61
Northern Ireland	41

Excludes non-court disposals

Licences

Table 32: Licences received and disposed

	Licenses Received	Licences Disposed
Antrim	3	2
Ards	19	15
Armagh and South Down	0	1
Belfast	14	14
Craigavon	2	3
Fermanagh and Tyrone	4	11
Londonderry	0	1
Total	42	47

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

Sitting Days

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	66	3:07:42	206:28:00	153:00:00	47:03:00	6:25:00
Ards	64	2:51:00	182:24:00	79:42:00	97:55:00	4:47:00
Armagh and South Down	53	2:52:35	152:27:00	82:55:00	61:50:00	7:42:00
Belfast	233	3:19:36	775:05:00	404:55:00	250:32:00	119:38:00
Craigavon	55	3:07:05	171:30:00	80:38:00	64:10:00	26:42:00
Fermanagh and Tyrone	47	3:48:13	178:46:00	80:55:00	80:50:00	17:01:00
Londonderry	56	2:29:44	139:45:24	70:40:24	46:35:00	22:30:00
Total	574	3:08:49	1806:25:24	952:45:24	648:55:00	204:45:00

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.