Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives
in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same,
as follows:
Chapter 221 of the General Laws is
hereby amended by inserting after section 91C
the following section:-
Section 91D. (a) As used in this section, the following words and phrases
unless the context otherwise requires, shall have the following meanings:
"Court reporter", a shorthand reporter or voice reporter engaged in the
practice of court reporting.
"Practice of court reporting", the making of a verbatim record of any
Massachusetts trial, legislative public hearing, state agency public hearing,
deposition, examination before trial, hearing or proceeding before any grand
jury, referee, board, commission, master or arbitrator, or other testimony
given
under oath.
(b) Contracts entered into pursuant to the practice of court reporting, not
related to a particular case or reporting incident, between a court reporter or
any
person with whom a court reporter has a principal and agency relationship and
an
attorney at law, party to an action, or party having a financial interest in an
action shall be prohibited. An attorney shall not be prohibited from
negotiating
or bidding reasonable court reporting fees, equal to all parties, on a case by
case basis.
This
section shall not apply to a contract entered into pursuant to the practice of
court reporting for the courts or to other contracts with governmental
entities.
A person aggrieved by a violation of
this section shall be entitled to review in the superior court
and
shall be entitled to all legal and equitable relief within the jurisdiction of
the court.
Approved June 25, 2002.