Value and volume of Circuit Court damages down by half

There were significant declines in the total personal-injury pay-outs in the High Court, Circuit Court, and District Court, the Courts Service 2022 Annual Report shows.

The High Court made awards totalling €253.5 million in 2022 – down from €281.8 million in 2021.

The Circuit Court made awards totalling €15 million in 2022 – down from €22 million in the previous year.

Threshold changes

2022 saw the introduction of changes to the threshold of amounts awarded in the Circuit Court.

The District Court made awards of €2.8 million in 2022 – down from €3.7 million a year earlier.

Overall, there were 12,459 personal-injury suits filed in 2022 – a 17% decrease on the 15,071 in 2021; a 30% decrease on the 17,810 in 2020; and a 43% decrease on the 21,981 suits filed in 2019.

The cases numbered:

• 3,766 in the High Court – a 26% decrease on the 5,145 cases in 2021,
• 7,151 in the Circuit Court – a 19% decrease on the 8,856 cases in 2021,
• 1,542 in the District Court – a 44% increase on the 1,070 cases in 2021.
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The number of awards of damages made in the Circuit Court dropped to 57% of the number of awards made in 2019, and the value of those awards was down to 58% of 2019 levels.

New personal-injuries actions followed the pattern that emerged in the second half of 2021, trending downwards following the implementation of the Judicial Council’s Personal Injuries Guidelines.

Spike

In previous years, new personal-injury summonses issued in the High Court tended to average around 400 per month.

In the run-up to commencement of the implementation of the guidelines, there was a spike of over 900 new sets of proceedings issued in April 2021.

This figure dropped to under 200 per month for each of the remaining months in 2021, and monthly numbers of new applications continued at this level in 2022.

The number of new cases increased by 25% in the Central Criminal Court, and by 10% in the Circuit Court, when compared with 2019 levels.

However, the number of cases disposed of in both courts was higher in 2022 than in 2019.

This trend was also reflected in family law, where new applications increased by 15% in the District Court, and by 10% in the Circuit Court.

Incoming civil business had not returned to the levels experienced before the pandemic, chief executive Angela Denning said.

Incoming civil business had not returned to the levels experienced before the pandemic, chief executive Angela Denning said.

The number of applications for a Grant of Letters of Administration or of Probate issued in 2022 returned to pre-pandemic levels.

Both the Central and Circuit Criminal Courts experienced high growth in new cases over the period 2019 to 2022.

Fewer judicial-separation applications

The trend of decreasing judicial-separation applications has continued since the introduction of the Family Law Act 2019, with 486 applications received in 2022, compared with 1,229 in 2019.

There was a 15% increase in the number of divorces granted in 2022, along with an 8% increase in guardianship, custody, and access cases.

There has been a sharp fall in new civil cases in both Circuit and District Courts. New applications were down by 35% in both jurisdictions, and this followed significant decreases in 2020 and 2021.

The number of awards made in Circuit Courts dropped to 57% of 2019’s volume and 58% of the value.

District Court awards increased in volume by 14%, but decreased by 10% in value.

The highest amount awarded in the High Court dropped to €19 million in 2022 from €30 million the previous year (which was an increase on €22.5 million in 2020, and €25 million in 2019).

In 2022, a total of 7,854 orders were made by the High Court for personal-injury cases issued in 2022 and previous years.

Wardship

The numbers of new applications to bring people into wardship did not abate, with over 500 applications received in the calendar year.

“Incoming civil business has not returned to the levels experienced before the pandemic. Whether this is due to a change in behaviour or a legacy of the pandemic years remains to be seen,” chief executive Angela Denning said.

2022 saw an increase in licensing applications, which were up 311% on 2021.

Chief Justice Donal O’Donnell said that manual court processes were being replaced with more efficient digital systems.

He referred to charge-sheet and station-bail data from An Garda Síochána’s systems, which can now be fed directly into the court system.

The Courts Service now has 520 people employed in regional offices around the country.