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Shirley Houston What do you do when an attorney accuses you of taking sides in the case? This situation actually happened in Houston last month. The reporter was taking a videotaped deposition and the attorneys decided to take a break. The videographer left the room, as did the attorney for the plaintiff. The defense attorney stayed in the room with the witness and they had a conversation. The reporter stayed in the room to change her paper in her machine. She was not listening to the conversation of the witness and the attorney. The reporter, after changing her paper in her machine, got up to leave and take a break. She started toward the rest room. On her way, she saw the plaintiff attorney returning to the conference room. She turned around and followed him because she was fearful they would want to resume and she wouldn’t be there. The plaintiff attorney, after the break, immediately started questioning the witness about what he and the defense attorney had discussed during the break. The defense attorney reminded the plaintiff attorney that this fell under attorney-client privilege. The plaintiff attorney said he would have the court reporter testify, if necessary. The defense attorney said that the reporter was supposed to be neutral. The end of the story was that the defense attorney said off the record that he wanted the court reporter replaced. He thought she had told the plaintiff attorney what the witness had said. The reporter, of course, was glad to be replaced. No ethical reporter would ever do anything to jeopardize a case. The ironic thing about this is that the reporting firm had been hired by the defense side the previous day and the plaintiff just decided to keep the same reporting firm. This was the first time this reporting firm had ever worked for the plaintiff’s attorney. The chances that a reporter would win the Powerball lottery would be better than a reporting not staying neutral. What should we do to prevent this from happening? (1) Ask the attorneys if the conversation is private; (2) If sitting in the room, do not listen to any conversation; (3) Do not agree to repeat anything you might have heard unless all attorneys agree. Just tell them you are a neutral party and you will need the judge to rule on this if they can’t agree. There is a possibility that the Court would rule that this doesn’t come under attorney-client privilege because a third party was in the room, even though we are supposed to remain neutral. So don’t take any chances. That’s our safest route. To make matters worse, it was then requested that we just give an immediate rough draft of the 200 pages. That request was denied because they had not requested a realtime reporter who could produce an immediate rough ASCII. It was agreed that after untranslates were taken out that the reporter would produce the rough ASCII. Be very careful that you follow all the rules set by the CRCB when you are giving a rough ASCII or rough draft. Call your HCRA Hotline if you have court reporting problems. We are there for you. (Back to Table of Contents) Reporter Hotline Info Come on. It happens to all of us at some point in our reporting career. THERE IS HELP FOR US!! Pick up the phone and call one of the following: Civil Courts: Loretta Korzeb 713-755-5514 Criminal Courts: Jennifer Slessinger 713-755-0802 Freelance: Susan Henley 713-524-6777 Shirley Houston 713-739-1400 They will do their best to answer your questions. (Back to Table of Contents) | |