Rule 15 - Court ReportersA. Application of Rule. All courts of record in each county of the State of Indiana shall adopt for approval by the Indiana Supreme Court a local rule by which all court reporter services shall be governed. Should a county fail to adopt such a plan, the Supreme Court shall prescribe a plan for use by the county. The local rule shall be in substantial compliance with the provisions of this rule. B. Definitions. The following definitions shall apply under this administrative rule: (1) A Court reporter is a person who is specifically designated by a court to perform the official court reporting services for the court including preparing a transcript of the record. (2) Equipment means all physical items owned by the court or other governmental entity and used by a court reporter in performing court reporting services. Equipment shall include, but not be limited to, telephones, computer hardware, software programs, disks, tapes, and any other device used for recording and storing, and transcribing electronic data. (3) Work space means that portion of the court's facilities dedicated to each court reporter, including but not limited to actual space in the courtroom and any designated office space. (4) Page means the page unit of transcript which results when a recording is transcribed in the form required by Indiana Rule of Appellate Procedure 28(A).(5) Recording means the electronic, mechanical, stenographic or other recording made as required by Indiana Rule of Trial Procedure 74. (6) Regular hours worked means those hours which the court is regularly scheduled to work during any given work week. Depending on the particular court, these hours may vary from court to court and county to county, but remain the same for each work week. (7) Gap hours worked means those hours worked that are in excess of the regular hours worked but hours not in excess of forty (40) hours per work week. (8) Overtime hours worked means those hours worked in excess of forty (40) hours per work week. (9) Work week means a seven (7) consecutive day week that consistently begins and ends on the same days throughout the year; i.e. Sunday through Saturday, Wednesday through Tuesday, Friday through Thursday. (10) Court means the particular court for which the court reporter performs services. Depending upon the county, Court may also mean a group of courts i.e. "X County Courts". (11) County indigent transcript means a transcript that is paid for from county funds and is for the use on behalf of a litigant who has been declared indigent by a court. (12) State indigent transcript means a transcript that is paid for from state funds and is for the use on behalf of a litigant who has been declared indigent by a court. (13) Private Transcript means a transcript, including but not limited to a deposition transcript, that is paid for by a private party. C. Court Reporter Models. The court or courts of each county shall uniformly adopt by local court rule one of the following Court Reporter Models: (1)Model Option One. The local rule shall: (a) designate that a court reporter shall be paid an annual salary for time spent working under the control, direction and direct supervision of the court during any regular work hours, gap hours or overtime hours; (b) designate a per page fee for county indigent transcript preparation; (c) designate that the court reporter shall submit directly to the county a claim for the preparation of the county indigent transcript; (d) designate a maximum per page fee that the court reporter may charge for a state indigent transcript; (e) designate a maximum per page fee that the court reporter may charge for a private transcript; (f) require the court reporter to report at least on an annual basis to the Indiana Supreme Court Indiana Office of Judicial Administration (IOJA), on forms prescribed by the IOJA, all transcript fees (either county indigent, state indigent, or private) received by the court reporter; (g) designate that if a court reporter elects to engage in private practice through recording of a deposition and/or preparing of a deposition transcript, and the court reporter desires to utilize the court's equipment, work space and supplies, and the court agrees to the use of court equipment for such purpose, the court and the court reporter shall enter into a written agreement which must, at a minimum, designate the following: (1) the reasonable market rate for the use of equipment, work space and supplies; (2) the method by which records are to be kept for the use of equipment, work space and supplies; (3) the method by which the court reporter is to reimburse the court for the use of the equipment, work space and supplies; (h) designate that if a court reporter elects to engage in private practice through recording a deposition and/or the preparing of a deposition transcript, that such private practice shall be conducted outside of regular working hours; and (i) designate that the court shall enter into a written agreement with the court reporter which outlines the manner in which the court reporter is to be compensated for gap and overtime hours; i.e. either monetary compensation or compensatory time off regular work hours. (2) Model Option Two. The local rule shall: (a) designate that a court reporter shall be paid an annual salary for time spent working under the control, direction and direct supervision of the court during any regular work hours, gap hours or overtime hours; (b) designate that subject to the approval of each county's fiscal body, the amount of the annual salary shall be set by the court; (c) designate that the annual salary paid to the court reporter shall be for a fixed schedule of regular working hours; (d) designate that a court reporter shall, if requested or ordered, prepare any transcript during regular working hours; (e) designate that in the event that preparing a transcript cannot be completed during regular hours worked, a court reporter shall be entitled to additional compensation beyond regular salary under one of the two options set forth as follows: (1)(a) Gap hours shall be paid in the amount equal to the hourly rate of the annual salary; and (b) Overtime hours shall be paid in the amount of one and one-half (1-1/2) times the hourly rate of the annual salary; or, (2)(a) Compensatory time off from regular work hours shall be given in the amount equal to the number of gap hours worked; and (b) Compensatory time off from regular work hours shall be given in the amount of one and one-half (1-1/2) times the number of overtime hours worked; (f) designate that the court and each court reporter may freely negotiate between themselves as to which of the preceding two (2) options in (e) shall be utilized and that the court and court reporter shall enter into a written agreement designating the terms of such agreement; (g) designate that if a court reporter elects to engage in private practice through recording a deposition and/or preparing a deposition transcript, that such private practice shall be conducted outside of regular working hours; (h) designate that if a court reporter elects to engage in private practice through recording a deposition and/or preparing of a deposition transcript, and the court reporter desires to utilize the court's equipment, work space and supplies, and the court agrees to the use of court equipment for such purposes, the court and the court reporter shall enter into a written agreement which must at a minimum designate the following: (1) the reasonable market rate for the use of equipment, work space and supplies; (2) the method by which records are to be kept for the use of equipment, work space and supplies; (3) the method by which the court reporter is to reimburse the court for the use of the equipment, work space and supplies.(i) designate a maximum per page fee that a court reporter may charge for private practice work; (j) designate a maximum per page fee that the court reporter may charge for a private transcript; and (k) require the court reporter to report at least on an annual basis to the State Court Administrator all transcript fees (either county indigent, state indigent or private) received by the court reporter. (3) Model Option Three. The court(s) may, by adopting a local rule to that effect, elect to procure all court reporter services by private contract and submit such contract for approval by the Indiana Supreme Court in accordance with Section A of this rule. Any such procedure must conform with all applicable state and local statutes, rules and regulations. Adopted Nov. 25, 1997, effective 1/1/1998; amended Sept. 8, 2014, effective 1/1/2015; amended Nov. 1, 2017, effective 1/1/2018.