§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.

            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.