Mercer Cnty. C.P. Rules of Judicial Administration

MERCER COUNTY LOCAL RULE OF JUDICIAL ADMINISTRATION 4004(B)

Court Reporter Qualifications:

(1) On or before the 15th day of January of each year, every court reporter shall

provide to the lead court reporter the number of continuing professional education

hours that the court reporter completed for the just ended calendar year.

(2) On or before the 31st day of January of each year, the lead court reporter shall

provide a report to the President Judge and District Court Administrator of the hours

of continuing professional education that each court reporter has completed during

the three (3) year requalifying period. The qualifying period shall coincide with the

three (3) year cycle of any court reporter that is currently in an NCRA continuing

education cycle.

MERCER COUNTY LOCAL RULE OF JUDICIAL ADMINISTRATION 4006

Court Reporter Duties:

(A) Reserved.

(B) Reserved.

(C) Reserved.

(D) Reserved.

(E) Reserved.

(F) Reserved.

(G) 1. On the first business day of each month, each court reporter

shall provide to the lead court reporter a report listing the

following:

(a) The case caption, type of proceeding to be

transcribed, date requested and expected

completion date for every transcript requested for

the preceding month;

(b) The case caption, type of proceeding to be

transcribed, date requested and expected

completion date for every transcript requested

prior to the 1st day of the preceding month;.

(c ) The case caption and completion date of every

transcript completed in the prior month.

2. On or before the 10th day of each month, the lead court

reporter shall provide a report to the President Judge and

the District Court Administrator listing the transcripts

pending to be transcribed, the court reporter assigned to the

matter, the date requested and the expected completion

date.

3. The report shall be developed by the lead court reporter and

approved by the President Judge if no form is provided by

the AOPC.

MERCER COUNTY LOCAL RULE OF JUDICIAL ADMINISTRATION 4007

Requests for Transcripts:

(E) Anyone requesting a transcript, unless waived by the Court, shall

file a Motion with the Mercer County Court Administrator setting

forth what is to be transcribed; whether or not it is to be an

ordinary, expedited, daily or same day delivery; whether or not it is

to be in electronic format or bound paper format; and whether or

not a waiver is being requested.

(1) The District Court Administrator shall contact the

assigned court reporter to determine the estimated cost

of the transcript and provide that amount orally to the

requesting party within 24 hours of the filing of the

motion.

(2) If a fee waiver is requested, the District Court

Administrator shall schedule a hearing to be held within

five (5) business days after the filing of said motion to be

heard by the presiding judge. If the waiver is not

granted or a partial waiver is granted, then the

requesting party shall pay a deposit equal to 75% of the

estimated cost of the transcript within three (3) business

days of said hearing.

(G) 1. A party requesting a transcript, unless a waiver is requested,

shall pay a deposit in the amount of 75% of the requested

estimated cost of the transcript. The check shall be made

payable to the court reporter.

4. The final payment is due at the time that the transcript is

picked up and/or delivered.

MERCER COUNTY LOCAL RULE OF JUDICIAL AMINISTRATION 4008(A)

Fees:

A. Fee Schedule for Court Reporters.

(1) Unless waived, the party requesting an ordinary transcript shall pay $2.50 per page for

ordinary transcripts in electronic format and pay $2.75 per page for paperbound

transcripts. Commonwealth shall likewise pay $2.50 per page for ordinary transcripts in

electronic format and pay $2.75 per page for paperbound transcripts.

(2) Unless waived, the party requesting an expedited transcript shall pay $3.50 per page for

expedited transcripts in electronic format and pay $3.75 per page for expedited

paperbound transcripts. The Commonwealth shall likewise pay $3.50 per page and $3.75

per page, respectively, for expedited transcripts.

(3) Unless waived, the party requesting a daily transcript shall pay $4.50 per page for daily

transcripts in electronic format and pay $4.75 per page for daily transcripts in paperbound

format. The Commonwealth shall likewise pay $4.50 per page and $4.75 per page,

respectively, for daily.

(4) Unless waived, the party requesting same day delivery of a transcript shall pay $6.50 per

page for same day delivery in electronic format and $6.75 per page for same day delivery

in paperbound format. The Commonwealth shall likewise pay $6.50 per page and $6.75

per page, respectively, for same day delivery of a daily transcript.

(5) Unless waived, the party requesting a copy of a transcript shall pay $0.75 per page in

paperbound format and $0.50 per page in electronic format. The Commonwealth shall

likewise pay $0.75 per page and $0.50 per page, respectively, for a copy of a transcript.

(6) The County shall pay a Court Reporter $2.00 per page for all court orders.

(7) Upon order of the presiding judge, in the event a transcript involves a mass tort, medical

malpractice, or unusually complex litigation, a Court Reporter may add a surcharge of

$0.50 per page to the above schedule of fees.

(8) A requesting party shall pay a fee of $1.00 per page for a rough draft of a transcript with

no certification. There will be no waiver of this fee.

[Adopted September 25, 2024, effective 30 days after publication in the Pennsylvania Bulletin.]

MERCER COUNTY LOCAL RULE OF JUDICIAL ADMINISTRATION 4011

Deadline for Delivery of Transcripts:

(A) The date of notice to transcribe for appeal shall be the date of the

post-appeal conference.

RULE 5102. General Provisions.

For all court proceedings, the court reporter, court recorder, or court monitor shall be

designated as the “Custodian,” as defined by Pa.R.J.A. 5101(a)(2), for all submitted

exhibits, either accepted or rejected, during a court proceeding.

(a) Within 5 business days of the conclusion of a court proceeding, the

Custodian shall file an index of all submitted exhibits with the appropriate records office,

on a form that complies with Pa.R.J.A. 5102(b)(2).

(b) If there are multiple Custodians involved with a proceeding, the first

Custodian shall provide the subsequent Custodian (and so on, if more than two

Custodians) with the submitted exhibits and the index of exhibits. The Custodian at the

conclusion of the proceeding shall be responsible for filing an index of exhibits with the

appropriate records office within 5 business days of the conclusion of the proceeding.

[Adopted February 29, 2024, effective 30 days after publication in the Pennsylvania Bulletin.]

RULE 5103. Custody of Exhibits. Special Provisions.

(a) The Custodian shall retain all exhibits during court proceedings.

(b) Unless otherwise provided by the presiding judge, at the conclusion of the

court proceeding, the Custodian shall retain all exhibits and shall arrange for

their storage and maintenance in the secured exhibit storage room, in

accordance with any applicable retention schedule, statute, rule, regulation, or

policy, or until further Order of Court.

(c) Unless otherwise ordered, the Custodian shall maintain all exhibits for a

period of ten years except for exhibits submitted in a homicide case, which

shall be maintained permanently.

(d) Any digital exhibit that cannot be printed (i.e., audio or video recording) shall

be entered into the record on a Universal Serial Bus (USB) flash drive (or

other format if expressly approved by the Court). If one party has multiple

digital exhibits, they may be submitted together on one USB flash drive.

(e) Any exhibit containing confidential information or equivalent to any of the

categories enumerated in Pa. Access Policy § 8.0 shall include a Confidential

Document Form so that the document can be properly sealed.

[Adopted February 29, 2024, effective 30 days after publication in the Pennsylvania Bulletin.]