Family Violence Appellate Project v. Super. Ct.

Summary

The California Supreme Court, exercising original jurisdiction, granted a petition for writ of mandate and held that superior courts have a ministerial duty, under the in forma pauperis doctrine and its 2018 decision in Jameson, to provide civil litigants who cannot afford a private court reporter with a means of obtaining an official verbatim record of proceedings in all cases, including by electronic recording when no official reporter is available. Government Code section 69957, which bars electronic recording of the official record in unlimited civil cases, does not preclude this remedy because courts must imply an exception to the statute where necessary to give indigent litigants meaningful access to justice. The court declined to decide the petitioners' due process, equal protection, and separation-of-powers theories, while noting serious doubts about whether the Legislature could curtail the courts' inherent in forma pauperis power. The opinion was authored by Chief Justice Guerrero for a unanimous court.