IN THE UNITED STATES D I S T R I C T C Q U R T
!'IESTERN DISTRICT QF ARKANSAS
IN RE: C O U R T REPORTER FLAN
GENERAL ORDER NO- LZ
Now comes on for cohsideration the matter of adopting a
Plan fot the Effective Utilization of Court Reporters as orally
aFproved by the Judicial Council of the Eighth Circuit on August
30, 1985,
The Court, being advj.sed in the prernises, hcreby adopts
saicl planr a copy of saicl plan being made a part of this order.
D a t e d S e p t a r n b e r1 0 , I 9 8 5 ,
L J ,S . D I S T R I C TC O U R T
\\'ESTERNDIST. ATTKANSAS
F I L E D
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IN TEE I]NITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
TlR TI]E I{.ESTERN DISTRICT OF hRKAXSAS
PthN TER EFFECTIVE trTILIZATION
OF COURT REPORTERS
1. Stateileht of Adoption of P 1 an. b y r l q u r b
This Plan for Effective Utilization of Court Reporters of the United
S t a t e s D i s t r i c t C o u r t f o r t h e w e s t e r n D i s t r i c t o f A r k a n s a sh a s b e e n
approved and adopted by the court subject to approvat by the Eighth
c i r c u i t J u di c i a I c o un ci f .
') of Off iciaf Court Reporters
Number and Location
The tr\'rstern Distr ict of Arkansas encomFasEesthe entire r.restern side
of the state of Arkansas with divisions in El Dorado, Texarkanar Hot
SpringF, Fort Smith, Fayettevifte and Harrison. Presentty, the
distrlct has only two dlstrict j u d g e s r e s i d i n g i n the district
a c t i v e l y - n ot rr ya idnog, l a r * ' s u i t s . The official stations o f the tr+o judges
are El }|rkansasf and Fort Smith, Arkansas, a nd an official
court reForter is presently assigned by tht court to provide
rt_,porting services to each of suih judges, with the official stations
of such court reporters also being E} Dorado and Fort Smith.
Brcause of the distance between the of f iciaJ. stations of the tHo
official court reporters in this district, and because of the traveL
time involved, it is not economically f e a s i b le to attemPt to pool the
services of these court reporters or t o a t t e m p t to equalize their
worklbads, ahd it vitl be necess"ry for separate court reporters to
be assigned to each of such j u d g e s for so long a s t h e y c a r r y a f u l l
foad and art actively tryihg lawsuits. fn the event t h a t a n
additional judgeship is created for this district, an additional
court reporfer-witl-be appointed pursuant to the provisions of 28
U , S . C . S - ? 5 3 , a n d w i l l b - e -a s s i g n t d t o p r o v i d e s e r v i c e s t o t h e j u d g e ,
appointid to filt such position' rf it then becomes possible to Poo-t
.iio.ter srrvices or to otherwise attempt to equalize the workload,
amendments to this plan will be nrade.
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3. Supe.vi_sionof Cotrt Report
The judges of this court' at their resident locations' shall assume
direlt iupervision of the court reporter employed at such location,
and the CIerk of this court shalt aid the judges in supervision'
Such supervision shaIl incJude rnonitoring court reporter billings to
assure that feesr Fage content and delivery schedules are met.
4. A9,F_rS.S
(a) Official reporters of this court wilI be appointed in accordance
vrith the provisions of 28 U.S.C. S 753. An appointnent as an
official reporter shall constitute an appointment as an official
reForter for the nhole court. A reporter shall continue to retain
e m p l o y r n e n ta t t h e w i t l o f t h e c o u r t e n b a n q , r e g a r d l e s s o f t h e d e a t h '
resignation or retirefient of an individual 'judge' In the perioil
b e t w e e n s u c h a n o c c u r r e n c e a n d t h e a p p o i n t m e n t o f a n e r +j u d g e '
reporters sha1l continue to serve other active judges, senior judges.
bankruptcy juctges and magistrates. If the volune of work does not
justify rotention of the fufl complementof reporters, a reduction
ihaIl be Eccompfished through relocation or by giving a reasonable
notice for termination of thE appointment of not Jess than 60 days.
(b) Each offici&1 court rEporter' Hhen not oh duty with the district
j u d g e t o w h o ma s s i g n e d , m a y b e a s . si g n e d t o s t r v e a s e n i o r j u d g e ,
magistratc, bankruptcy judge, or visiting judge' subject to the
approval of the active resident judge to whomassigned. RePorting
s e r v i c e s n e e d e d b y s r . r c hi n d i v i d u a L s i h t h e T e x a r k a n a , E I D o r a d o o r
H o t S p r i n g s D i v i s i o n s s h a 1 1b e p r o v i d e d b y t h e . o f f i c i a l court
reporter residing' : i n E I DorEdo. Reporting s e r v i c e s n e e d ed in the
Foit smith, Fayetteville a n d l { a r r i s o n D i v i s i o n s s h a 1 1 b e provided by
the official court r e p o r t e r w h o s e o f f i c i a l s t a t i o n i s F o r t Snith.
Requests for assignment shall be made to the resident judge to whom
eaCh of such repoiters is regularly assigned, Transcript Production
being considered by the Judicial conference as outside work for which
additionat remuneration is received, ti.me spent on transcripts, as
w e f f a s t r a n s c r i p t b a c k l o g , n e e d n o t b e c o n s i d e r e d r * ' h e na s s i g n i n g
r e t r o rt e t s .
when ah official reporter is not available for a court apPearancer
the p r e s i d i n g j u d g e shatl direct the CJ,erkto notify the Circuit
Executive and initiate a funding reguest to the edministrative
l . r ff i n e q,,r'h ra.rrrFst ShaIf
r v l Y e r include the reason for the Emergency
employment, the period of time required and the tstinated cost.
(c) Procerdings before United States Magistrates may be recorded by
efectronic sound recording or by court reporter. The magistrate
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shall determine r+hich technique ls to be used as to each case or
hcaringl taking into account the provisions of 20 U.S.C. SS 753(b)
and 635(c)(7), and any other applicable authorities,
Should a magistrate feef that it is necessary that the services of
court reporter be utilized in a particular case, a request for
a s s i g n m e n t s h a l l b e r n a d ei n t h e m a n n e r p r o v i d e d f o r i n t h e
i m m e d i a t e l y p r c c e di n g s u h p a r a g r a p h .
5. !gey__e_l_gj*olf_l g_i_+ qour t Repor terq
The policy of this district regarding annual and sick leave is that
o f t h e J u di c i a l C o n f e r e n c e .
Court reporters assigned regular tours of duty are to earn annual
leave antl sick leave in accordance with the Leave Act. A Fregular
tour of dutyn consists of a set nurnber of hours of work hours per
week in the courthouse, specified in advance, during nhich hours the
reporter may generate transcripts but may not perform any private
(free lance) work of any kind.
Rtporters not covered by the Leave Act rnust provide substitutes as
needed at their own exFense or be placed in a leave without pay
status when taking vacations, .Ieave for personel brrsiness or
sickntss. R e p o r t e r s n o t c o v e r e d . .b y t h e L e d v e A c t a r e c o n s i d e r e d t o
be on call every day court is in session, whether or not they dre
assigned primarily to one judge as a matter of conveniepce. If the
court nreds rcForting services for senior judges, visitlng judges,
bankruptcy judges, magishrates or land commissioners, salarieil
reporters who are Ebsent for whatever reasobs are responsible for
providing thaL coverage or providing a substitute.
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The duties of an official court reporter of this court shall be fulL
tilrle, and free lance reporting or other rcporting not relateil to
official duties sha]l be permitted only when specifically approved by
t h e j u d g e t o v r h o ma p a r t i c u l a r reporter is regularly assigned.
_loj_ll_g,n s q.I_fp!*g o f o f f i c i a I Pr o c e e d!!ggq
_EE_E_S-
(a) No court reporter, either official or contract, shal1 bhargc
fees for transcripts of offici aI proceedings exceedihg those
r e c o m m e n d e df r o m t i h e t o t i m e b y t h e J u d i c i a l Conference of the
U n i t e d S t a t e s , a n d . a d o p t e db y t h i s c o u r t .
(b) The Clerk of the court shall post in the Clerk's offlce in each
division in the district, in an area generally available to.the
public, a copy of the allowable fees.
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(c) Production of daily or hourly trdnscript is not to be subsidized
by thE court. If extra reporters are reguired to provide such
transcript, the cost of such reporters shall be paid by the official
re5)orter out of the earnings derived fron the higher transcripL rates
as estabfished by the Judicial Conference. This provision does not,
however, prohibit other official reporters from assisting in
producing such transcript if there are no other officiaf proceedings
to record inctuding those of senior j u d g e s and magistrates and when
no substahtial transcript backlog will result,
(d) A page of transcript shall consist of 25 fines r+ritten on paper
8-1,12 by 1I inches in size, prepared for binding on the left side,
with 1-3l4 inch margin on the left siilc and 3/8 inch margin on the
r ight side.
8. Time timits for Defivery of Transcript
(a) All transcripts of official proceedings produced by the court
reporlers for this district for the purpose of apptal to the Eighth
Circuit Court of Appeals shall be delivered to the ordering party and
filed with the Clrrk of this court within the time prescribed by the
Eighth Circuit Court of AFpeaIs, This schedule shall not be deviated
from unless an extension has been obtained from the appropriate clerk
of the court, i.e., the Clerk of- thr Cour-t of Appeals in cases
involving apptaI transcripts, Late delivery of transcripts cari
result in a fee reduction of from 10 Frrcent to 20 Fercent, depending
upon the length of tardiness.
(b) Any violation of this plan shall be referred to the supervising
judge for apFropriate action including, but n o t limited to,
disnissal, suspension, contempt charges, and/ot restitution of
ov er char ges.
This PIan for Effectiv,e Utilizabion of Court Reporters is hereby
adopted and sha1l become effective upon the approval of the .ludicial
CouhciL of the Eighth Circuit,
Datrd tbis 30th day of .luly f985-
. FRANKLIN WATERS
Chief Uniteil States District Judge
Senior united States District Judge
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