Cost and fees, policy & procedures including those for indigent/pauper litigants - family court - domestic violence - New Orleans

To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to the Louisiana Public Records Law, I hereby request the following records:

I am writing to request documents related to Orleans Parish Civil District Court's costs and fees that it charges litigants, including indigent/pauper litigants, as well as orders or costs and fees set or approved by the Judges En Banc, administrators or other Orleans CDC officers, including documents pertaining to for cost and fees increases applied for or generated by Orleans CDC to present to the Louisiana Supreme Court/Judicial Council pursuant to R.S. 13:61 from 2003 to present.

Additionally and more specifically, I seek to inspect, make copies, and/or duplicate:

1) Applications, forms, and documents that set, consider or determine Orleans CDC court costs and fees including proposed costs and fees initiated at Orleans CDC, requests for setting or changing costs and fees, the establishment of court rules or other policy on costs and fees, and obtaining approvals and recommendations to effectuate the costs and fees charged to litigants. Please include all documents that record the setting of costs and fees internally through Orleans CDC judicial or administrative authorities, as well as applications or requests prepared for review and approval by parties outside Orleans CDC, such as the Judicial Council or state legislature for the following: a) court reporter services and transcript fees charged to litigants who request transcriptions, b) fax transmissions fees, c) fees to inspect and view court records online via remote access, d) filing of pleadings and exhibits for domestic matters, e) the certification of copies of records, f) online services such as remote access to view and inspect court filings and other public records. Please also include any documents that set, consider or determine any differential in costs and fees that are based on a party's indigent financial status.

2) Documents setting out policy and procedures relating to assessing, paying, and collecting costs and fees for indigent (in forma pauperis) litigants those costs and fees of the sheriff, clerk of court, courter reporter, notary or another public officer in connection with the judicial proceeding including but not limited to the taking and transcribing of testimony, filing of pleadings and exhibits, the issuance of certificates, the certification of copies of notarial acts and public records, the issuance and service of subpoenas and process, the issuance of judgments and the preparation of a record of appeal, online services such as remote access to view court filings and other public records, and communications fees (fax transmissions, photocopying, cd-roms).

3) Documents setting out policy and procedure regarding the Orleans CDC's methods and criteria for provision of services and funds for indigent litigants including a) the source(s) of indigent funds for costs and fees, b) the officers of the court responsible for decision-making in allocating funds for indigent litigants costs and fees, c) procedures and criteria for allocating and instructing disbursement of funds for indigent litigants' cost and fees of the sheriff, clerk of court, courter reporters, notary or another public officer including but not limited to the taking and transcribing of testimony, filing of pleadings and exhibits, the issuance of certificates, the certification of copies of notarial acts and public records, the issuance and service of subpoenas and process, the issuance of judgments and the preparation of a record of appeal, online services such as remote access to view court filings and other public records, and communications fees (fax transmissions, photocopying, cd-roms).

4) Cost and fee rate guidelines, standards, policy and procedure documents pertaining to court reporters services and provision of transcripts including rates that may be charged to litigants, indigents, media representatives and any others who request them, the processes and requirements for accepting orders for transcripts, billing and taking payment, obtaining indigent funds for costs and fees, providing access to public records such as audio recordings and their observational notes when requested by litigants or media representatives, and policy and deliberative documents that define the conditions and requirements of court reporters by the Orleans CDC as to how they conduct, transact, and perform their salaried responsibilities and (as appears to be in practice) also as gig workers or outside employment engagements to transcribe and provide transcripts, certified documents, and responses to public records request on behalf of the court under the mandate and according to laws of the State of Louisiana and its district court.

5) All cost and fee rates and conditions of sale and delivery for each court reporter for each Orleans Parish CDC judge with a domestic docket from 2019-present, if they vary amongst the divisions or chamber in the court (as they appear to). Please include at all sample transcripts order form or agreement for each court reporter on a domestic docket, or fee and terms sheet, and be sure to include all version or different rates or terms if each court reporter use more than one cost and fee formula, rate based on variable factors such as indigent/pauper status, or a characteristic of the requestor (eg plaintiff or defendant, judge or court as requester) or purpose of the request (eg, appeals record, evidence in pending matter, etc).

This request follows up upon and reiterates selected requests for public records that I previously made to staff of Orleans CDC from January 2020 through July 2021, as well as requested of the Orleans Parish Civil Clerk, Chelsey Richard Napoleon, and designated assigned Custodian of Records, Michele Collins, Judicial Administrator and to Orleans Parish CDC Sheriff's office, and the judicial chambers of Bernadette D'Souza and Monique Barial. I have received no response to my requests until July 2021, and to date have received severely deficient responses.

The only documents delivered in response to any of my requests was from a supervisor in the Clerk of Court office, via email on July 13. However, the delivered documents were non-responsive. They included 1) a pdf of the state statute, RS 13:850, which, by law, sets the fax transmission fee for civil district courts statewide at a flat fee of $5.00 per transmission, and 2) the fee sheet prominently featured on Orleans Civil Clerk's website, which sets Orleans Parish civil district court's fax transmission fee at a higher rate of $5.00 minimum, $2.50 per page. My original records request was neither for a copy of a Louisiana statute nor for this Orleans CDC's published fee sheet, both of which I already have and referenced in my requests as such. I specified in my original request and followed up upon to reiterate, I am asking for the administrative documents, policy and procedure, and applications and approvals related to the establishment of a court rule or other policy for Orleans Parish Civil District Court to charge a fax transmission fee of $5.00 for the first two pages plus $2.50 per page for each page thereafter (which is a fee of $2.50 per page).

On July 20, I received an email from Orleans CDC, via it's Custodian of Records and Judicial Administrator, Michele Collins stating: "We have received your request below and do not understand what you are requesting. Until your request is clear, we cannot respond. Additionally, please be advised that there is a fee for providing records under the Public Records Act."

Ms. Collin's response fails to comply with Louisiana public records law, which is explicit that: "No fee shall be charged to any person to examine or review any public records," and "custodian shall within three days, exclusive of Saturdays, Sundays, and legal public holidays, of the receipt of the request, in writing for such record, notify in writing the person making such request of his determination and the reasons [with] a reference to the basis under law which the custodian has determined exempts a record, or any part thereof, from inspection, copying, or reproduction."

On July 28, I received a response from Walt Pierce, Orleans CDC Public Information Officer, that primarily consists of a dump of the same cost and fee sheets updated over time, and a few emails distributing them throughout the court since 2003. It fails to include policy and procedures, and is wholly deficient as to indigent/pauper cost and fee-related documents. It fails to state legal basis for denying or withholding documents.

As this is for informational and non-commercial use and the requestor is also indigent, I request a fee waiver.

The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.

In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.

Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 3 business days, as the statute requires.

Sincerely,

Margot Herster, Director, Domestic Violence is Terrorism, a documentary production of lib(her)ate

Dear Mr. Pierce,

First, it is untrue that Louisiana Public Records Act (RS 44.1) does not require you answer questions, whether a requestor ask them of you or not. I have explicitly asked, and have received no answer to the It in fact does require you to answer regarding several issues that I have asked such as the locations of the documents, and legally valid reasons for failing to produce the records in your possession for inspection and/or copying. Orleans CDC neither produced public records I requested nor answered the questions.

The request is wholly deficient and clearly intended to be obstructionist. This is a court, so I assume the judges and lawyers in control of documents would know and follow the law. However they clearly are not. The documents that it produced are tangentially related to the request. None include those prepared by Orleans CDC for the Judicial Council or legislature, nor are any internal policy and procedure documents included for instructing employees on handling.

Documents outlaying indigent/pauper policy and procedure and media representatives access to public records and costs is entirely deficient, as requested in #3 & #4.

Second, I am certain that there are many further documents responsive to my request, and they in possession and under its custodial control of Orleans CDC. I myself am in possession of several of them. As example, I attached here a sample responsive document that you failed to produce, despite that I requested this for each court reporter. I have in my possession a handful of additional others for individual orders, at different terms and rates, that are responsive to my request #5.

It is a court reporter's transcript order form issued on behalf of, and with the seal of, Orleans Parish Civil District Court. It states a cost of $5/page. I am also in possession of instructions from court staff informing litigant of transcription rate of $2.50 paid for pauper transcripts, and various contracts, invoices and other order transactions demanding or charging litigant $5-$15 per page with promised turnarounds ranging from 3 days, 7 days, 14 days and 30 days for transcripts.

Please produce the responsive documents.

Thank you for your assistance,
Margot

Dear Mr. Pierce,

First, it is untrue that Louisiana Public Records Act (RS 44.1) does not require you to answer questions, whether a requestor asks them of you or not. I have explicitly asked, and have received no answer to the It in fact does require you to answer regarding several issues that I have asked such as the locations of the documents, and legally valid reasons for failing to produce the records in your possession for inspection and/or copying. Orleans CDC neither produced public records I requested nor answered the questions.

The request is wholly deficient and clearly intended to be obstructionist. This is a court, so I assume the judges and lawyers in control of documents would know and follow the law. However, they clearly are not. The documents that it produced are tangentially related to the request. None include those prepared by Orleans CDC for the Judicial Council or legislature, nor are any internal policy and procedure documents included for instructing employees on handling.

Documents outlaying indigent/pauper policy and procedure and media representatives' access to public records and costs are entirely deficient, as requested in #3 & #4.

Second, I am certain that there are many further documents responsive to my request, and they in possession and under its custodial control of Orleans CDC. I myself am in possession of several of them. As example, I attached here a sample responsive document that you failed to produce, despite that I requested this for each court reporter. I have in my possession a handful of additional others for individual orders, at different terms and rates, that are responsive to my request #5.

It is a court reporter's transcript order form issued on behalf of, and with the seal of, Orleans Parish Civil District Court. It states a cost of $5/page. I am also in possession of instructions from court staff informing litigant of transcription rate of $2.50 paid for pauper transcripts, and various contracts, invoices and other order transactions demanding or charging litigant $5-$15 per page with promised turnarounds ranging from 3 days, 7 days, 14 days and 30 days for transcripts.

Please produce the responsive documents.

Thank you for your assistance,
Margot

Dear Mr. Pierce,

I have attached an example record that demonstrates that Orleans CDC's claim that there are no responsive records is false. Please be reminded that Orleans CDC is required to produce all records in their control and in the possession of its employees, and that failure to collect them from employees does not a justification for claiming the court has no responsive documents. In addition, moving records or removing them to third-parties has been ruled intentional.

My request is to Orleans Civil District Court, not the Judicial Expense Fund. You are listed as Public Information Officer for Orleans Civil District Court, and quoted in news media frequently regarding court issues on behalf of the judges en banc, as well as on administrative and facilities issues. Could you please double check that you have sought records from all employees, including the Chief Judge who administers the court, the judges en banc and the domestic judges chambers? It's quite concerning that judges would blatantly disregard public records law by failing to state the location of public records in question, reason for delay, or exemptions with citation to law that gives a public entity of the State of Louisiana the right to deny access.

The response thus far is a refusal to produce public records for inspection, not an issue of responsive documents not existing. Please again the responsive record that I attached above, which also states the existence by name of other records, such as a "rate sheet" for transcripts by the court reporter Ms. Susan Lee. I feel your last response may have been too hasty, could you please review it again, as well as my detailed request for many more records in the possession, custody and control of the court. If many of the documents that I requested truly don't exist, in fact, the court would be egregiously conducting itself unlawfully. So I presume that they do.

I appreciate your attention to this,
Margot