Why You Need A Court Reporter To Set The Record Straight

Court reporters—who used to be a regular presence in every courtroom in the state, preserving every word for the record—are now conspicuously absent from many California courtrooms. This change is widespread throughout California, but varies from county to county. Several of California's largest counties, including Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Diego, no longer provide court reporters in either Civil Law & Motion or Civil Trial courtrooms. Privately arranging and paying for court reporters is now the new normal.

California's ongoing budget woes are the primary reason for this change. In 2013 alone, the courts absorbed nearly a half-billion-dollar cut. Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye has estimated that the courts need at least $266 million just to tread water this year. The Chief Justice also outlined a Three-Year Blueprint for a Fully Functioning Judicial Branch, which does not even mention the return of reporters to the courtroom. See http://www.courts.ca.gov/partners/documents/Blueprint_Final.pdf.

The court's inability to provide court reporters for civil litigants has serious implications for civil appeals. This is because in the Court of Appeal, there are only three "immutable" rules to remember: "first, take great care to prepare a complete record; second, if it is not in the record, it did not happen; and third, when in doubt, refer back to rules one and two." Protect Our Water v. County of Merced, 110 Cal. App. 4th 362, 364 (2003).

Without a court reporter at your trial court proceeding, it will be extremely difficult to prepare an adequate record for appeal. And an inadequate record may be fatal to an appeal and may be grounds for dismissal. Foust v. San Jose Constr. Co., 198 Cal. App. 4th 181, 185-86 (2011) ("In numerous situations, appellate courts have refused to reach the merits of an appellant's claims because no reporter's transcript of a pertinent proceeding or a suitable substitute was provided.")

In light of these circumstances, the best practice is to arrange privately for a court reporter for all trials and hearings regarding dispositive issues. If you have inadvertently failed to arrange for a private court reporter, ask for a continuance until you can get one to court, even if the hearing is routine or if you don't expect it to result in a final order. For example, you may attend a demurrer hearing with the expectation that the demurrer will be denied or sustained with leave to amend. If the court instead...