The Inconsistency of the Legal System ? B&A Litigation Services, LLC

Recently, one of my court reporters was forbidden by counsel to copy a section of a party?s medical records. It was for spelling purposes only that the court reporter was requesting that section. Counsel cited HIPAA concerns, despite the fact that the portion of the medical records the reporter wanted to copy was what the expert witness had just read verbatim into the record.

This counsel obviously felt a legal duty to protect his client?s privacy, but what happens to records once the matter goes to court?

Due to budget constraints, many courts are employing the use of digital recorders in various courtrooms. Digital recorders usually require one day of training versus a stenographer who must attend several years of college. Also, the cost of equipment for a digital recorder is nowhere near the cost of a stenography system. For this reason, digital recording firms are able to produce transcripts at considerably reduced rates.

The price difference is not only reflected in the level of training, but in one particular case where court administrators in Florida contracted the services of a digital recording firm to record various hearings and depositions, the firm owner was working out of her small condo and could not afford an appropriately protected facility to store court records associated with this business.

In this particular case, court records were stored in an open parking deck storage area, along with bicycles and luggage cases, without even so much as a padlock.

When this firm owner finally appeared in court, it seems there was no mention of the document storage process currently being utilized.

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Source: http://bandalit.com/blog/2012/02/18/the-inconsistency-of-the-legal-system/

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