New Zealand Law Society - Nearly 90% of reserved District Court decisions within 3 months

Nearly 90% of reserved District Court decisions within 3 months

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A high 89.4% of reserved District Court decisions were delivered within three months of the end of the hearing in the year to 30 June 2018, the District Court Annual Report states.

This was up on the previous year when 87.8% of reserved decisions were delivered within three months.

Most of the reserved decisions are delivered within the first month after the hearing, with 62.9% of the decisions in the 2017/18 year.

Reserved decisions in civil hearings (64.8%) were most likely to be delivered within one month, followed by Family Court (64.6%) and criminal hearings (57.2%).

Time taken to deliver reserved decisions in District Court, year to 30 June

Proceedings 2018 2018 % 2017 2017 %
Criminal
0 to 1 month 147 57.2% 105 53.3%
1 to 3 month 87 33.8% 64 32.5%
3 to 6 months 20 7.8% 25 12.7%
6 to 9 months 3 1.2% 3 1.5%
Total 257   197  
Family Court
0 to 1 month 369 64.6% 355 62.4%
1 to 3 month 141 24.7% 149 26.2%
3 to 6 months 53 9.3% 53 9.3%
6 to 9 months 5 0.9% 8 1.4%
9 to 12 months 2 0.3% 2 0.4%
12 months + 1 0.2% 2 0.4%
Total 571   569  
Civil
0 to 1 month 149 64.8% 141 62.4%
1 to 3 month 52 22.6% 57 25.2%
3 to 6 months 23 10.0% 24 10.6%
6 to 9 months 6 2.6% 4 1.8%
Total 230   226  
All decisions
0 to 1 month 665 62.9% 601 60.6%
1 to 3 month 280 26.5% 270 27.2%
3 to 6 months 96 9.0% 102 10.3%
6 to 9 months 14 1.3% 15 1.5%
9 to 12 months 2 0.2% 2 0.2%
12 months + 1 0.1% 2 0.2%
Total 1058   992