County Court Rules | Belfast Solicitors Association

Dear Colleague

We have been notified of the following important changes to our County Court Rules and would ask our members to please take note of the following:

The County Court (Amendment) Rules (Northern Ireland) 2017 SR 2017 No.19 – http://www.legislation.gov.uk/nisr/2017/19/contents/made

These Rules which came in to force on Monday 13^th February 2017 amend the County Court Rules (Northern Ireland) 1981 to—

v provide for enforcement of interrogatories served without order;

v make provision for lodgements to be made after service of medical evidence other than the plaintiff’s in circumstances where the provisions of Order 21 apply (Discontinuance, Settlement and Payments In & Out);

v amend Orders 19, 24, 33 and 55 and insert a new Appendix 2 to increase costs over a two year period (1.5% in 2017 with a further 1.5% increase to take effect in 2018).

PLEASE NOTE that in addition to raising scale costs, the Rules increase a number of other payments due under the Rules to include:

(a) the amount of the payment to be tendered to police officers and other witnesses under Order 24 Rule 9

(b) the fee claimable under Order 55 Rule 17 for service of a civil bill effected by post. This increases from £2.84 to £2.88 with effect from 13^th February.

Belfast Solicitors’ Association