BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 2372
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CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
AB 2372 (Hill)
As Amended June 11, 2012
Majority vote
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|ASSEMBLY: |73-0 |(April 30, |SENATE: |36-0 |(June 28, |
| | |2012) | | |2012) |
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Original Committee Reference: JUD.
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SUMMARY : Modifies responsibilities for the timely payment of
deposition-related services. Specifically, this bill provides
that, upon written request of a deposition officer who has
obtained a final judgment for payment of deposition services
rendered, the attorney or pro per party must provide the
deposition officer with an address that can be used to
effectuate service for the purpose of Code of Civil Procedure
(CCP) Section 708.110 in the manner specified in CCP Section
415.10 (i.e., personal service).
The Senate amendments clarify that the address required to be
provided is one that can be used to effectuate personal service
of an order of examination pursuant to CCP Section 708.110.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Requires the party noticing the deposition to bear the cost of
that transcription, unless the court, on motion and for good
cause shown, orders that the cost be borne or shared by
another party.
2)Requires the requesting attorney or party appearing in propria
persona to timely pay the deposition officer or the entity
providing the services of the deposition officer for the
transcription or copy of the transcription, and any other
deposition products or services that were requested either
orally or in writing.
3)Allows a judgment creditor to apply to the court for an order
requiring the judgment debtor to appear before the court to
furnish information to aid in enforcement of the money
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judgment.
4)Requires the judgment creditor, if an order is made by the
court, to personally serve a copy of the order on the judgment
debtor not less than 10 days before the date set for the
examination in the manner specified in CCP Section 415.10
(i.e., personal service).
AS PASSED BY THE ASSEMBLY , this bill was substantially similar
to the version approved by the Senate.
FISCAL EFFECT : None
COMMENTS : This bill, sponsored by a professional association of
deposition reporters, seeks to improve the reporters' ability to
collect payment for services they commonly provide at the
request of attorneys and pro per litigants. According to the
author, it is a relatively infrequent but unfortunate problem
when a lawyer requests and receives the finished deposition
transcript, but avoids payment by evading service of process
even after a final judgment is obtained against him or her. The
author explains: "Licensed reporters who have a valid and final
court judgment against an attorney are too often frustrated in
collecting the judgment. Using expensive process servers,
deposition reporters too often must expend considerable sums
chasing down these few attorneys adept at avoiding service to
collect on small claims judgments (under $7,500). The inability
to collect on these judgments hurts deposition officers because
they are either unable to collect or because it is too expensive
to collect and this, by extension, harms those lawyers who in
fact pay their bills."
Existing law often requires the judgment creditor to personally
serve collection-related documents upon the judgment debtor,
understandably, because of important due process concerns. For
example, an order of examination made by a court to furnish
information to aid in enforcement of a money judgment must be
personally served upon the judgment debtor, pursuant to CCP
Section 708.110. Proponents of the bill contend that not having
an address other than a P.O. Box can stymie this and other
constructive efforts to collect on the judgment.
To address this problem, the bill seeks to require attorneys or
pro per parties, upon request by a deposition officer who has
obtained a final judgment for payment, to provide a business or
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mailing address that can be used to effectuate personal service
of an order of examination "in the manner specified in ÝCCP]
Section 415.10." An attorney that responds to this request by
providing a post office box or private mailbox address would not
be satisfying the statutory requirement because CCP Section
415.10 does not allow personal service to be made to a post
office box. Importantly, this bill does not alter nor create
any special exception to long-standing service of process rules
that apply to all creditors in California seeking to collect on
a valid judgment.
According to the author, State Bar authorities have recently
signaled that they will, for the first time, consider an
attorney's willful or intentional failure to obey statutes,
court orders, or court rules as potential grounds for
disciplinary action against the attorney's license. For this
reason, the author believes that the simple statutory
requirement proposed by this amendment will help improve
deposition reporters' ability to collect payment for their
services because, in part, of the State Bar's recent change in
disciplinary policy.
Analysis Prepared by : Anthony Lew / JUD. / (916) 319-2334
FN: 0004198