Court Opinion

ID: 9665036
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 00:37:15.946409+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:15:12.397739
License: Public Domain

On Motions for Rehearing
The Honorable Paul Peurifoy, Judge of the 95th District Court, one of the respondents, did not file a motion for rehearing. However, he did file a pleading informing us that he had entered an order overruling the contest to the affidavit and asking for further instructions.
Attached to Judge Peurifoy’s pleading are affidavits of Mr. Solon Stanley, former official court reporter of the 95th District Court, who was reporter at the time the case herein was tried, and of Mr. Cecil J. Lowrance, now the official court reporter. Mr. Stanley’s affidavit states that he is a stenotypist; that though he was the official court reporter at the time the case was tried, he personally did not take notes of the testimony; that this was done by his assistant, whom Mr. Stanley personally paid for his services. The data presented in the affidavit shows that it would be both burdensome and expensive for Mr. Stanley if he were required to prepare a statement of facts.
The affidavit of Mr. Lowrance, the present court reporter, states that Mr. Stanley’s assistant used the stenotype system of shorthand, which Mr. Lowrance is not able to read; and having no notes of his own, he cannot prepare a statement of facts in this case.
*237Judge Peurifoy asks that we give him further instructions in the light of the circumstances presented by the affidavits of the two reporters.
We doubt that the question suggested by Judge Peurifoy is before us for determination, so we shall go no further than to comment on the situation before the trial court.
It has been held that a duly appointed special court reporter does not cease to be an officer of the court when his pay ceases. It is his duty thereafter to prepare a statement of facts for a plaintiff under an affidavit of inability to pay costs. If he refuses, he may be compelled to do so. Otto v. Wren, Tex.Civ.App., 184 S.W. 350; see also Rice v. Roberts, Tex.Civ.App., 177 S.W. 149.
It has also been held by our Supreme Court that it was proper for a former district judge, whose term had expired, to make and file findings of fact and conclusions of law in a case tried before him, although he was no longer judge of the court. This opinion was handed down before our present Art. 2248, R.C.S., went into effect, so it represents a conclusion reached independently of statutory authority. Storrie v. Shaw, 96 Tex. 618, 75 S.W. 20. Similar conclusions have been reached in cases involving sheriffs. 38 Tex.Jur. 440.
Respondents, with the exception of Hon. Paul Peurifoy, Judge of the 95th District Court, have filed motions for rehearing. Respondents Paul R. Luther and Mrs. A. B. Luther have also filed motions for oral argument on motions for rehearing.
After considering the motions for rehearing, we are of the opinion they should be overruled. For one thing, the record before us now shows that since we rendered our judgment granting the writ of mandamus, the Hon. Paul Peurifoy, Judge of the 95th District Court, has entered an order overruling the contest to plaintiff’s affidavit of inability to pay costs. For all practical purposes, the matters raised in the motions for rehearing may therefore be considered as moot. The motions for oral argument and for rehearing are overruled.