SB 293 Text

Senate Bill No. 293
(By Senators Wooton, Ball, Bowman, Dittmar, Ross, Snyder and Kimble)
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[Originating in the Committee on the Judiciary;

reported March 11, 1997.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact section one, article four, chapter fifty-seven of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to precluding a court reporter from having a contractual relationship with a party litigant other than governmental entities.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section one, article four, chapter fifty-seven of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:

ARTICLE 4. DEPOSITIONS AND PERPETUATION OF TESTIMONY.

§57-4-1. Taking and certification of depositions -- generally.

In any pending case the deposition of a witness, whether a party to the suit or not, may, without commission, be taken in or out of this state by a justice, or notary public, or by a commissioner in chancery, or before any officer authorized to take depositions in the county or state where they may be taken. However, a deposition may not be taken by any person who is a relative or employee or attorney of any of the parties, or is a relative or employee of the attorney, or a relative or employee or attorney of one who has a financial interest in the outcome of the case, or who is otherwise financially interested in the action. Any deposition taken by an interested party, as described above, shall be considered void. For purposes of this article, an employee includes a person who has a contractual relationship with a party litigant to provide reporting or other court services and also includes a person employed part or full time under contract or otherwise by a person who has a contractual relationship with a party litigant to provide reporting or other court services. A party litigant does not include federal, state, or local governments and the subdivisions thereof. ~~And such~~ Depositions may be taken in shorthand, or stenographic characters or notes, and shall be written out in full and transcribed into the English language by the stenographer taking the same, and certified by the officer before whom the depositions are taken; and if certified by such officer under his hand and if further certified by him that such stenographic characters and notes were correctly taken and accurately transcribed by him, or under his direction and supervision, and that the witnesses were duly sworn, such depositions may be received and read in evidence without proof of the signature to such certificate and without the signature of the witness to such depositions. And in case the stenographer taking such depositions is not the officer before whom the same are being taken, then such stenographer, before proceeding to take any of said depositions, shall be sworn to take correctly and accurately transcribe the same, and the certificate of the officer before whom the depositions are taken shall state that the stenographer was so sworn.
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(NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to prohibit a party litigant from contracting with a court reporter.

Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.)

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