California Court Reporter Crisis Escalated to State Justices (1)

Legal aid organizations filed a lawsuit with California’s Supreme Court demanding an option to electronically record proceedings be made available statewide for low income litigants, as the state’s court reporter crisis has often left their proceedings with no official court reporter and no verbatim record.

State law blocks courts from electronically recording certain types of proceedings. However, the state’s top court has ruled that a verbatim record is necessary to ensure access to justice and that courts must provide litigants with reporters if they can’t afford to hire one. A lack of reporters often means proceedings go without, and the ...