NCJ Number
204344
Date Published
2003
Length
90 pages
Annotation
In response to the growth in civil court cases in the Netherlands, this report describes developments in civil court decisions between 1997 and 2000 and new and settled cases between 1997 and 2000.
Abstract
In 1999, the Dutch Ministry of Justice predicted a growing number of cases of citizens suing each other with increasing amounts of money being claimed. It was requested that the demand for civil court decisions be monitored closely. This report describes the developments between 1997 and 2000, as well as new cases that were brought to court between 1997 and 2000, and cases that were settled in the years 1997 and 2000. New cases were monitored in 11 district courts and settled cases were monitored in 5 district courts. Monitoring results indicate no growth in the number of cases was found. However, the amounts of money that were claimed increased rapidly with the median amount claim rising from 11.881 to 22.624 euro. The number of cases in which the judges decided a defendant had to pay, as well as the amount of money to be paid showed only a small increase. The median amount that defendants had to pay increased from 9.372 to10.569 euro. A gap was identified as growing between the amount of money claimed and the amount that actually had to be paid. It can be concluded that between 1997 and 2000 a change took place in the claims that were brought to the courts. Tables and figures