§ 13:962 — Court reporters for the First Judicial District

§962. Court reporters for the First Judicial District
A. The judges of the First Judicial District Court shall appoint the court reporters for
the First Judicial District Court.
B. The court reporters shall be persons of good moral character, whose knowledge
of court procedure and general qualifications of competency have been demonstrated to the
satisfaction of the judges making the appointment.
C. The term of office of the court reporters shall continue for the current term of the
judges making the appointment, or until resignation, or until ended by the decision of at least
a majority of the judges in said district, at their discretion.
D. The appointment of each court reporter must be concurred in and signed by at
least a majority of the presiding judges in the district at the time of the appointment. The
judges shall appoint as many court reporters as there are judges in the First Judicial District
and such additional court reporters as, in their discretion, is required. Each court reporter
shall furnish a bond in the sum of one thousand dollars to protect litigants against any acts
of incompetency on the part of the reporter. The written appointment, oath of office, and the
bond shall be recorded in the office of the clerk of the district court.
E. The duties of the court reporters shall be to report in shorthand, tape recording,
stenotype, or in any recognized manner, and transcribe into typing or printing at the request
of any of the parties to any proceeding, or at the request of the district judges, all the
testimony taken in all civil appealable cases tried in the district, and to furnish, for the
purpose of appeal the necessary carbon copies of the testimony required by the law for the
appeal. In criminal cases the court reporters shall take down the proceedings as required by
law and by the court and shall transcribe the proceedings as directed by the court and shall
furnish the necessary carbon copies needed for the purpose of appellate review.
F. The court reporters shall work concurrently in any section of the court, according
to the needs and requirements of the different sections in the interest of expediting the
business of the court, at the discretion of the judges.
G. Subject to the approval of a majority of the judges, each court reporter may
appoint as many deputy reporters as necessary to assist him in the work of the office
consistent with the volume of work to be done, and the reporter making the appointment
shall be responsible for the work of his deputies under his oath of office and bond.
H. As compensation, each court reporter shall be paid a salary from the fund
hereinafter created of not less than one thousand seventy-five dollars per month, and such
additional amounts as are determined by a majority of the judges; plus an amount to be
determined by a majority of the judges for each thirty-one line page and for each copied page
of all testimony reported and transcribed in all cases, said salary to be paid monthly and other
compensation as submitted for payment. The length of the transcript page may be changed
from thirty-one lines to twenty-five lines at the discretion of a majority of the court. All
recording and transcribing machines, typewriters, supplies, and extra help shall be paid by
such court reporters personally. Additional compensation, recording and transcribing
machines, supplies, and extra help may be provided to the court reporters for work in
criminal court as required and as ordered by the majority of the judges, the cost thereof to be
paid from the criminal court fund, or indigent defender fund, any other available fund, or as
otherwise provided by law and as ordered by a majority of the judges.
I. The clerk of court of the First Judicial District Court shall collect from any person
filing any type of civil suit or proceeding, intervention, third party demand, or reconventional
demand the following amounts, which shall be maintained by him in a separate account
designated as the court reporters' fund. The clerk of court shall collect in all suits or
proceedings a sum to be set by a majority of the judges not to exceed seventy-five dollars,
with the exception of money claims of less than one thousand dollars, in which event the
amount to be collected shall not exceed fifty dollars, to be taxed as costs. Nothing in this
Subsection shall be construed to affect the rights of any litigant proceeding under Code of
Civil Procedure Article 5181 et seq.
J. No deposit shall be required in forma pauperis cases, but the clerk of court may
test by rule the plaintiff's right to the benefits of Code of Civil Procedure Articles 5181
through 5188.
K. Such clerk of court shall maintain the court reporters' fund in a separate account
and shall pay therefrom the salaries and fees of the court reporters as herein provided for,
except that payment by the clerk of court from the reporters' fund for testimony transcribed
and copies thereof shall be limited in each case to the first one hundred pages and one copy
thereof. This limitation shall not apply to pauper cases and opinions by the court. The
reporters' fee for testimony transcribed after the first one hundred pages and one copy thereof
shall be charged by and paid to the court reporter who reports and transcribes the testimony
and shall be retained by him as compensation in addition to the salary as provided herein, and
shall be taxed as costs of the suit in which the testimony is taken. Except in pauper cases,
payment of the fees shall be made primarily by the appellant immediately upon the
transcription of the evidence, and the court reporter shall not be required to begin the
transcript before payment of a reasonable downpayment and shall not be required to file the
completed transcript with the clerk before payment of the full cost thereof. Should the
appellant fail or refuse to make such payment, the appellee or any other party to the suit may
make the same and have it assessed as cost.
L. The clerk of court of the First Judicial District Court shall receive as his fee for
the collection and disbursements of said fund, and for the keeping of all necessary books and
records in connection therewith, a sum equal to seven percent of the deposits to said fund,
which shall be paid by deducting said sum at the end of each month from the deposits made
during that month. The fee shall be deposited in and shall become a part of the clerk's salary
fund of the First Judicial District Court.

Legislative History

Amended by Acts 1958, No. 26, §1; Acts 1962, No. 41, §1; Acts 1968, No. 204, §1; Acts 1972, No. 117, §§1 to 3; Acts 1975, No. 196, §1; Acts 1979, No. 366, §1; Acts 1983, No. 104, §1; Acts 1993, No. 943, §1; Acts 2015, No. 13, §1, eff. May 26, 2015.