The Judicial Council on Friday added an important amendment to the top of its budget priority list for next year in the wake of a ruling from the California Supreme Court that poor litigants are entitled to free court reporters in civil cases. The council agreed to ask the Legislature for funding next year to provide people poor enough to qualify for fee waivers with court reporters, or at least a verbatim record obtained through electronic recording or some other means. The addition follows the high court’s ruling in Jameson v. Desta earlier this month, where a poor inmate appealed a San Diego judge’s dropping of his malpractice lawsuit against a prison doctor. Days before trial, the San Diego Superior Court issued an order cutting free court reporters from civil trials, and Jameson argued that he was entitled to one as an indigent litigant. The high court agreed, and on Friday the council moved quickly to comply with what some members called a “post-Jameson world. ”“While we don’t know the.....MORE
