Court Opinion

ID: 9742586
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 21:16:27.691326+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:24:33.934465
License: Public Domain

UHLENHOPP, Justice
(concurring specially) .
I think §§ 624.9 and 624.11 of the Code relate to matters which the parties are entitled as of right to have reported. On the other hand, I think the parties should not be entitled as of right to have all arguments reported.
No one claims all arguments always must be reported. A large amount of oral argument need not be taken down; to do so serves no useful purpose. The question, then, is this: who shall determine which portions shall be reported — the parties or the trial court? It seems to me the matter should be left to the discretion of the trial court but the parties’ requests for a record should be liberally granted where reason therefor appears. I believe that this is the practice which is widely followed and and that attorneys can adequately protect their record by this system if they are alert. The moment argument begins to be questionable, they can request a record.
One situation may require special treatment. If counsel desires to have a record made of his own argument other than the final argument, his request should ordinarily be granted. If it is refused, we should not indulge in a presumption that opposing counsel’s subsequent argument was merely responsive.
I also think that reporters are not entitled to extra compensation for reporting arguments. Consequently I see no constitutional problem in allowing trial courts some discretion in the matter of the arguments to be reported.
A reason given by the trial court here for refusing to have the arguments entirely reported is untenable — the extra expense of the reporter’s charge. But the trial court was nonetheless within its discretion in refusing the request. Counsel did not request to have a record made of objectionable portions of the arguments. Hence we are not required to pass upon a refusal to grant such a request.
I concur in affirmance of the judgment.