BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 2372
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Date of Hearing: April 17, 2012
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY
Mike Feuer, Chair
AB 2372 (Hill) - As Introduced: February 24, 2012
As Proposed to Be Amended
SUBJECT : DEPOSITIONS: RECOVERY OF PAYMENT
KEY ISSUE : SHOULD AN ATTORNEY WHO OWES PAYMENT FOR
DEPOSITION-RELATED SERVICES BE REQUIRED, UPON REQUEST BY THE
DEPOSITION OFFICER, TO PROVIDE AN ADDRESS THAT CAN BE USED TO
EFFECTUATE PERSONAL SERVICE?
FISCAL EFFECT : As currently in print this bill is keyed
non-fiscal.
SYNOPSIS
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 sponsors, 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. To address this
problem, the author proposes to amend the bill to require
attorneys or pro per parties, upon request by a deposition
officer who has obtained a final judgment for payment of
services, to provide an address to the officer that can be used
to effectuate personal service. As proposed to be amended, the
bill is considerably narrower in scope and does not modify
long-standing service of process rules that apply to all
creditors in California seeking to collect on a valid judgment.
There is no known opposition to this bill.
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 in the manner specified in Code of Civil
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Procedure Section 415.10 (i.e. personal service.)
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. (Code of Civil Procedure Section 2025.510(b).
All further references are to this code unless otherwise
stated.)
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. (Section 2025.510(h)(1).)
3)Provides that the above requirement:
a) Shall apply unless responsibility for the payment is
otherwise provided by law or unless the deposition officer
or entity is notified in writing at the time the services
or products are requested that the party or another
identified person will be responsible for payment.
b) Does not prohibit or supersede an agreement between an
attorney and a party allocating responsibility for the
payment of deposition costs to the party. (Section
2025.510(h), paragraphs (2) and (3).)
4)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
judgment. (Section 708.110(a).)
5)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 Section 415.10. (i.e.
personal service.) (Section 708.110(d).)
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
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request of attorneys and pro per litigants. According to the
sponsors, 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. To
address this problem, the bill as proposed to be amended seeks
to require attorneys or pro per parties, upon request by a
deposition officer who has obtained a final judgment for
payment, to provide an address that can be used to effectuate
personal service.
Stated need for the bill. The author and sponsor explain the
need for the bill as follows:
Infrequently, but frequently enough to be a stubborn
problem, a lawyer with a solid address at the time
deposition services are ordered will, while the invoice is
pending, or during informal efforts (letters and calls) to
collect, close his or her office, move, and instead use a
mail drop or P.O. box. Because the Bar permits attorneys
to disclose only a P.O. box or other private mailbox as
their address on its website, and because certain
collection-related legal documents cannot be effectuated
through the mail, 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).
Essentially, the rules of service of process for
collection-related documents, combined with the Bar
permitting attorneys to disclose P.O. boxes and similar
addresses, unwittingly reward a small fraction of stubborn
attorney bad actors in their effort to avoid having to pay
lawful judgments to officers of the court. 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.
Author's proposed amendments significantly narrow the scope of
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this bill to preserve existing service of process rules. As
proposed to be amended, the bill is considerably narrower in
scope and 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.
The author proposes to amend the bill to delete the entire
contents of the current bill and then revise subdivision (h) of
Section 2025.510 of the Code of Civil Procedure to read as
follows (changes in italics ):
(h) (1) The requesting attorney or party appearing in
propria persona shall timely pay the deposition officer or
the entity providing the services of the deposition
officer for the transcription or copy of the transcription
described in subdivision (b) or (c), and any other
deposition products or services that are requested either
orally or in writing.
(2) This subdivision shall apply unless responsibility for
the payment is otherwise provided by law or unless the
deposition officer or entity is notified in writing at the
time the services or products are requested that the party
or another identified person will be responsible for
payment.
(3) This subdivision does not prohibit or supersede an
agreement between an attorney and a party allocating
responsibility for the payment of deposition costs to the
party.
(4) The requesting attorney or party appearing in propria
persona, upon written request of a deposition officer who
has obtained a final judgment for payment of services
provided pursuant to this subdivision, shall provide the
deposition officer an address that can be used to
effectuate service in the manner specified in Section
415.10.
As proposed to be amended, the bill directly addresses the
reported problem of having only a PO Box address where documents
can be served. 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 Section 708.100. Proponents of the bill contend
that not having an address other than a PO Box can stymie this
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and other constructive efforts to collect on the judgment.
As proposed to be amended, this bill no longer authorizes legal
service of process to a PO Box, but instead requires the
attorney, upon request, to provide to the deposition reporter a
business or mailing address that can be used to effectuate
personal service "in the manner specified in 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 Section 415.10 does not allow
personal service to be made to a post office box.
According to the sponsor, 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.
PRIOR LEGISLATION: AB 1211 (Price), Ch. 115, Stats. 2007,
clarifies that the obligation to timely pay the deposition
officer for transcription and other deposition-related services
that are requested shall be the responsibility of the requesting
attorney or pro per party.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Deposition Reporter Association of California (sponsor)
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by : Anthony Lew / JUD. / (916) 319-2334
AB 2372
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