Official court reporters for Riverside Superior Court provide the verbatim record of court proceedings in felony criminal, juvenile delinquency and dependency cases, as provided by statute. Reporters are also provided in other courtrooms such as family law, civil trials and probate. Certain types of hearings are not reported such as Small Claims, Unlawful Detainers, Traffic and Infractions, Misdemeanor calendars, and Limited Civil Collection matters.
In addition to a permanent staff of offical court reporters, the court utilizes the services of additional certified contract reporters on a temporary basis, as needed.
The proceedings for which official court reporters shall normally be provided will be posted in the clerk’s office at each court facility. Below you will find the posted Notices of Availability of Court Reporters.
There is a difference between paying “court reporter appearance fees” and “purchasing a transcript.” Court reporter appearance fees are collectible in any civil case, which includes all matters other than criminal and juvenile matters (Government Code § 68086(a)1-3). Link to External Site: California Legislative Information - leginfo.legislature.ca.gov
Court reporter appearance fees shall be due and payable from the beginning of hearing or trial. “Beginning” is defined as the moment the matter is assigned to the trial court and the judicial officer calls the action for trial or hearing.
Unless the Court orders otherwise for good cause, a half-day fee shall be charged for any matter lasting more than one hour. A full day shall be charged for any matter lasting more than four hours.
When purchasing a transcript from an individual court reporter, the person or party is contracting with that individual court reporter for the actual transcript of the proceedings. Transcript costs are governed by Government Code Section 69950. Link to External Site: California Legislative Information - leginfo.legislature.ca.gov All arrangements for preparation, delivery and payment of transcript are between the requesting party and the individual court reporter.
Attorneys or private citizens who would like to purchase a verbatim record of a public court proceeding may purchase a transcript directly from the court reporter who reported the hearing. The interested party should personally contact the court reporter and make arrangements for the preparation of the transcript. The following information will be required before a transcript can be prepared:
Once you have all the information listed above complete the Online Transcript Request Form and submit it electronically; or
Complete the Transcript Request Form and mail the form to the Supervising Court Reporter as indicated on the form.
A party requesting a transcript on a juvenile case must submit a Request for Disclosure of Juvenile Case File (JV-570) to the juvenile clerk’s office. This process will not apply to transcript requests from the Appeals Department or from attorneys on the juvenile case such as JDP and County Counsel.
If you need to locate any of the above information, you can obtain it by Searching Court Records to view the case online. Be sure to select the correct court location from the drop-down menu and have your court case number ready.
The name of the court reporter who reported the hearing is located in the minute order for that hearing date. All the information needed for the Transcript Request Form may be viewed online or on the public terminals that are located in the clerk’s or self-help offices at each court facility.
Please check the list of court reporters to assist you in determining whether the reporter is a current staff reporter or a contract reporter. Once contacted, the reporter will contact the requestor to confirm the hearing information, payment method, and mailing address or to schedule a transcript pick up date.
Once the court reporter receives your transcript request, the reporter will contact you. The reporter will give you the estimated or actual cost of the transcript. The reporter will discuss payment for the transcript, the length of time it will take to complete the transcript, and delivery options. The reporter will respond to any other questions you may have regarding your transcript request.
If your request is urgent, please indicate that on the request form in the comment box. The reporter should respond within two (2) business days. If not, contact the appropriate regional supervisor.
In some cases it may not be possible for a court reporter to provide a transcript on a rush basis, but every effort will be made to meet the request.
Please keep in mind that:
According to state law (Government Code § 68152(j)7), the court reporters’ notes for criminal cases are destroyed after ten years, and notes for civil cases are destroyed after five years. The notes for death penalty cases are never destroyed.
Proceedings older than ten years may no longer be available to be transcribed.
Please Note: The following types of matters are not reported and an official transcript is NOT available: small claims, limited civil collection matters, unlawful detainers (landlord-tenant disputes), infractions, traffic and misdemeanors.