Rappaport v. Payne

ARCHBALD, J., pro tem. Petitioner worked as court reporter in department 24 of the Superior Court of Los An-geles County on the twentieth and twenty-first days of December, 1932. The clerk of said court certified that such services were rendered and the judge presiding in the department made his certificate of the fact that they were rendered under his order and were a just and legal charge against the county, and ordered the county auditor to draw his warrant on the treasurer in payment thereof. The amount of each order was $15. Demand was made by petitioner for the issuance of such warrants, which was refused by the auditor. This proceeding is brought to compel their issuance.

It is not denied that petitioner, while a qualified reporter on the eligible list, was not on the designated official list of reporters of said superior court, and that the official reporter assigned to department 24 was assisting the official reporter in department 27 of said court in reporting and transcribing the testimony in a case pending in that department on the 2'0th of December. On the twenty-first day of December said official reporter was working in department 24 and petitioner was assisting him in reporting and transcribing the testimony in a criminal case therein pending. The offical reporter of department 24 was paid the per diem, fee of $15 for his services on said day. The minutes of department 24 for the 20th of December state: “There being no official reporter available, the court appointed Samuel Rappaport as official reporter pro tern, for this department and he is so duly sworn.” The record is silent as to any designation on the 21st, but there is no question but that petitioner actually worked in said department on both days.

Petitioner urges that under section 274 of the Code of Civil Procedure and Rule V of the rules of said superior court the court was authorized to make such appointment. Respondent contends that the appointment could only be [774]made, and tbe per diem fee made a charge against tbe county of Los Angeles by following tbe provisions of section 271 of the Code of Civil Procedure. Such section provides in substance that the official reporter of any superior court shall attend to the duties of his office in person “except when excused for good and sufficient reason by order of the court, which order shall be entered upon the minutes of the court ’ and that “employment in his professional capacity elsewhere shall not be deemed a good and sufficient reason for such excuse”. The section then continues: “When the official reporter of any court has been excused in the manner provided in this section, the court may appoint an official reporter pro tempore, who shall perform the same duties and receive the same compensation during the term of his employment as the official reporter.” Section 274 of the Code of Civil Procedure fixes the fee for reporting at $15 per day, and also fixes a fee for transcribing, which depends upon the number of words transcribed and the number of copies made of the transcriptions, and provides that in criminal cases and cases or proceedings involving the custody or support of a minor child, and “in which the court specifically so directs the fees for reporting and for transcripts ordered by the court to be made”, such charges “must be paid out of the county treasury upon the order of the court, provided, that when there is no official reporter in attendance, and a reporter pro tempore is appointed, his reasonable expenses for traveling and detention must be fixed and allowed by the court and paid in like manner”. 'Section 269 of the same code provides for the appointment of as many reporters as there are judges, “to be known as official . . . reporters of such court”. Section 2 of Rule V of said superior court provides: “Whenever the services of a phonographic reporter are required in any department, and there is no official reporter available, an official reporter pro tempore, may, pursuant to the direction of the presiding judge, be assigned to such department by the judge presiding therein.”