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General Assembly Raised Bill No. 844
January Session, 2019
LCO No. 4035
Referred to Committee on JUDICIARY
Introduced by:
(JUD)
AN ACT CONCERNING LE GAL TRANSCRIPT REQUIREME NTS AND
THE FEES CHARGED BY COURT REPORTERS.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. (NEW) (Effective October 1, 2019) (a) As used in this 1
section: 2
(1) "Court reporting" means the verbatim transcription of the 3
spoken word in a legal proceeding by stenographic or electronic 4
means; 5
(2) "Court reporter" means any individual or business entity, foreign 6
or domestic, engaged in the business of court reporting within this 7
state; 8
(3) "Official court reporter" means a stenographer hired by or 9
appointed by a state or federal authority to make a verbatim written or 10
electronic transcription of the spoken word during a court proceeding, 11
Workers' Compensation Commission proceeding or other official state 12
or federal administrative proceeding; 13 Raised Bill No. 844
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(4) "Final transcript" means the final transcribed version of the 14
spoken word at a legal proceeding created by a court reporter 15
irrespective of whether such transcribed version is the original or a 16
copy; and 17
(5) "Legal proceeding" includes, but is not limited to: (A) A 18
deposition, whether held within or outside of this state, for a 19
proceeding pending in this state and irrespective of whether such 20
deposition is conducted in person or by remote electronic means, (B) 21
an arbitration proceeding, (C) a mediation proceeding, and (D) any 22
similar proceeding incident to an inchoate or pending legal matter. 23
(b) Any final transcript produced by a court reporter, except an 24
official court reporter, for a legal proceeding within this state shall 25
meet the following "Transcript Format Guidelines" promulgated by the 26
National Court Reporters Association, as amended from time to time: 27
(1) Each page of a final transcript shall contain no fewer than 28
twenty-five typed lines on standard paper eight and one-half by eleven 29
inches in size; 30
(2) Each page of a final transcript shall have no fewer than nine or 31
ten characters per typed inch; 32
(3) The left-hand margin of the each page of a final transcript shall 33
be set at not more than one and three-quarter inches; 34
(4) The right-hand margin of each page of a final transcript shall be 35
set at not more than three-eighths of an inch; 36
(5) Each question and answer shall begin on a separate line; 37
(6) Each question and answer shall begin no more than five spaces 38
from the left-hand margin and the statement following a question or 39
answer shall begin no more than five spaces from the left-hand 40
margin; 41
(7) Any carryover question and answer line shall begin at the left-42 Raised Bill No. 844
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hand margin; 43
(8) Any colloquy shall begin no more than fifteen spaces from the 44
left-hand margin and any carryover line of a colloquy shall begin at the 45
left-hand margin; 46
(9) Quoted material shall begin no more than fifteen spaces from the 47
left-hand margin and any carryover line of quoted material shall begin 48
no more than ten spaces from the left-hand margin; and 49
(10) Any parenthetical or exhibit marking shall begin no more than 50
fifteen spaces from the left-hand margin and any carryover line shall 51
begin no more than fifteen spaces from the left-hand margin. 52
(c) No court reporter, except an official court reporter producing a 53
transcript for a legal proceeding within this state, shall charge any 54
other party to the legal proceeding more for a final transcript than the 55
amount that is charged to the hiring party for the final transcript, 56
excluding ancillary attendance and other fees or additional services 57
requested and charged to the hiring party. Services that a party may 58
request of a court reporter at an increased fee include, but are not 59
limited to, expedited delivery of a transcript, daily copy of a transcript, 60
streaming text or video. If additional services are requested by any 61
party, these services shall be offered at the same or lower rate to all 62
parties to the legal proceeding, irrespective of which party hired the 63
court reporter. A court reporter, except an official court reporter, shall 64
charge the same rates for final transcripts and other services to all 65
parties to a legal proceeding irrespective of who hired the court 66
reporter. A court reporter, upon receiving a written request from a 67
party for an invoice for services rendered, shall provide such invoice to 68
the requesting party no later than thirty days after the date of receipt of 69
the request. 70
(d) Nothing in this section shall prevent a court reporter from 71
charging a nonhiring party a lower rate for a copy of a final transcript 72
or other service. 73 Raised Bill No. 844
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(e) Any violation of the provisions of this section by a court reporter 74
shall constitute an unfair trade practice under chapter 735a of the 75
general statutes. 76
(f) The provisions of this section shall not be construed to apply to 77
an official court reporter appointed by the judges of the Superior Court 78
pursuant to chapter 874 of the general statutes. 79
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 October 1, 2019 New section
Statement of Purpose:
To standardize legal transcript requirements and the fees charged by
court reporters.
[Proposed deletions are enclosed in brackets. Proposed additions are indicated by underline,
except that when the entire text of a bill or resolution or a section of a bill or resolution is new, it is
not underlined.]