Opinion ID: 4513973
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Payment for Court-Reporting Services

Text: ¶6 Betterton-Fike contacted Hunter & Geist (“H&G”), a court-reporting firm, in August and September 2016 to arrange court-reporting services for two depositions. H&G agreed to provide these services without a written contract or any advance payment. In fulfilling Betterton-Fike’s order, H&G prepared the transcripts for both depositions and sent him invoices.2 The invoices totaled about $1,960. H&G requested payment within thirty days. Because Betterton-Fike’s fee agreement required his clients to pay for court-reporting services, he forwarded the invoices to his clients. 1Betterton-Fike concedes in his reply brief that he “does not challenge the Hearing Board’s findings of fact in this appeal.” 2 Betterton-Fike contended at oral argument that he did not receive these invoices and was unaware that he had an outstanding balance with H&G until December 2016 (three months before OARC opened its investigation in March 2017). But the parties’ stipulated exhibits include emails sent from H&G to Betterton-Fike’s email address in September 2016 with the invoices attached. And when asked at the disciplinary hearing whether he received these emails with the attached invoices in September 2016, Betterton-Fike responded that he did. 3 ¶7 Thirty days came and went. Because H&G didn’t receive payment, it sent Betterton-Fike an email, reminding him of the outstanding balance. But H&G never heard from Betterton-Fike, or his clients, regarding payment. ¶8 Over the next four months, H&G called, left voicemails, and sent BettertonFike emails and letters requesting payment. But it never received any payment or heard from Betterton-Fike. ¶9 When the invoices were about six months old, H&G filed a grievance against Betterton-Fike with OARC. Betterton-Fike responded to OARC’s initial inquiry by explaining that he had billed his clients for H&G’s work, and because his clients hadn’t paid him, he was unable to pay H&G. ¶10 H&G ultimately filed an action against Betterton-Fike’s law firm in small claims court. Betterton-Fike testified that after H&G filed this action, he contacted his clients regarding the outstanding balance. He agreed to forego certain fees for his services in order to pay H&G. When he received payment from his clients, he paid H&G the overdue balance, including interest, in January 2019. This occurred over two years and three months after he initially received H&G’s invoices for its court-reporting services.