Specialist Courts and Tribunals

Filing trends have continued to decrease, with 318 cases filed in the year ending 30 June 2014, which is 35% lower than the previous year.

The low number of appeals filed reflects both the current lower level of resource consent applications filed at council level, and the irregular nature of plan and policy review work initiated by councils across New Zealand.

The Court disposed of 681 cases in the 2014 financial year, compared with 661 in 2012/13. The disposal rate, in conjunction with the lower numbers of new business, has seen the number of active cases reduce by nearly a half, from 743 at 30 June 2013 to 399 at 30 June 2014.

There has been a 3% decrease in referrals to the Coroner, with 5,298 referrals in the 2014 financial year, compared to 5,477 in 2012/13.
The number of cases resolved was 5,524, compared to 5,978 in 2012/13. The number of cases on hand has decreased by 4% from 2,959 cases as at 30 June 2013 to 2,833 as at 30 June 2014.

There were 5,853 new cases filed in the court in the 2014 financial year. This is an increase of 2%, compared to the previous year of 5,735. Over the same period, the court increased its disposal rate by 5% to 6,393 cases, compared to 6,100 cases in the 2013 financial year.

The court pro-actively managed its aged case load, particularly focussing on its very oldest cases over five years of age. This corresponded with a 12% decrease in cases on-hand, with 4,162 cases as at 30 June 2014.

The Tenancy Tribunal accounts for 69% of new business in the tribunals and authorities administered by the Ministry of Justice (excluding Disputes Tribunal figures, which are reported separately). 

New business increased by 1% with 21,419 applications lodged in the 2014 financial year, compared to 23,203 in the 2012/13.

The tribunal disposed 24,120 cases in the 2014 financial year, compared to 22,108 the previous year.

The Private Security Personnel Licensing Authority represented 14% of new business for tribunals and authorities in the 2014 financial year, compared to 16% in 2012/13.
In the first three months of operation in 2011 there were over 11,000 applications for licences and certificates. This has slowed as expected, and in the 2014 financial year there were only 4,259 applications, a 20% reduction compared to the same time last year, when there were 5,320 applications. The Authority has disposed 3,418 applications, a decrease of 38% compared to the previous year where 5,555 applications were disposed.

The Immigration and Protection Tribunal (IPT) represented approximately 4% of the tribunals' and authorities’ new business in the 2014 financial year. The IPT received 1,265 cases during this time, which is relatively no change to volumes in the previous year. 

A total of 1,461 cases were disposed during the 2014 financial year compared to 1,130 disposals in the previous financial year. The greater volume of disposals was due to the IPT’s new operating model. The model initially focused all resources on the residence and deportation (humanitarian) appeals, which account for 80% of the workload. In the second half of the year, the focus switched to the “hearing” streams.  
There are now 1,067 cases on hand as at 30 June 2014.

Comparing the 2013/14 to 2012/13 financial years this the Disputes Tribunal has seen a:

• 4% decrease in new claims to 15,477

• 9% decrease in the disposals of claims to 14,891; and

• 20% increase in the number of active claims to 3,565 as at 30 June 2014.

There appears to have been a continued downward trend in Disputes Tribunal cases over the last two financial years. This is thought to be due to the economic climate, with less domestic consumer spending resulting in fewer consumer-related disputes.