Issue 135 (Week ending 15/07/2012)

€4,500 increase in the value of a consumer judgment award in 2012

The latest statistics on consumer judgments for the first half of 2012 show that the High Court has awarded 1,950 judgments worth over €150m to creditors for non-payment of debts by consumers.

This means that average value of a consumer judgment issued in the first six months of the year is just over €77,000. This figure is up just over €4,500 on the figure for the same period in 2011.

Despite the increase, figures for judgments are down compared to 2011. 1,950 judgments have been awarded, down from 2,296 and the value of judgments awarded has dropped to €150m* from €166.5m.

*Previous research has indicated that as many as 8 out of 10 judgments in Ireland are not registered by the plaintiff. Due to an action taken by the Irish Court Services in late 2010, collection of data on unregistered judgments is no longer permitted. So whilst €150m in registered judgments has been awarded this year, the figure for all judgment awards is likely to be significantly higher.

Consumer Judgment Awards

Top 10 Plaintiffs

Plaintiff No. of Judgments

Revenue 674

Credit Union 365

Banking 198

Wholesale & Retail 112

Construction 88

Utilities 78

Real Estate 52

Local Authorities 47

Bus & Pro Services 42

Telecomms 40

Top 10 Plaintiffs account for 86% of consumer judgment awards

Consumer Judgment Values

Top 10 Plaintiffs

Plaintiff Val of Judgments

Banking €69,637,035

Revenue €25,898,098

Building Society €20,221,689

Construction €8,575,419

Credit Union €6,009,715

Insurance €3,840,855

Real Estate €1,812,435

Wholesale & Retail €1,571,306

Local Authorities €1,439,424

Bus & Pro Services €809,260

Top 10 Plaintiffs account for 93% of the value of consumer judgment awards