GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA
SESSION 1999

SENATE BILL 1055
RATIFIED BILL

AN ACT TO PROHIBIT THE USE OF A COURT REPORTING SERVICE THAT HAS AN INTEREST WHEN A DEPOSITION IS TAKEN.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

Section 1.  G.S. 1A-1, Rule 28(c) reads as rewritten:
"(c)	Disqualification for interest. – Unless the parties agree otherwise by stipulation as provided in Rule 29, no deposition shall be taken before a person who is any of the following:
(1)	A relative, employee, or attorney of any of the parties;
(2)	A relative or employee of an attorney of the parties;
(3)	Financially interested in the action; or
(4)	An independent contractor if the contractor or the contractor's principal is under a blanket contract for the court reporting services with an attorney of the parties, party to the action, or party having a financial interest in the action.  Notwithstanding the disqualification under this rule, the party desiring to take the deposition under a stipulation shall disclose the disqualification in writing in a Rule 30(b) notice of deposition and shall inform all parties to the litigation on the record of the existence of the disqualification under this rule and of the proposed stipulation waiving the disqualification. Any party opposing the proposed stipulation as provided in the notice of deposition shall give timely written notice of his or her opposition to all parties.
For the purposes of this rule, a blanket contract means a contract to perform court reporting services over a fixed period of time or an indefinite period of time, rather than on a case by case basis, or any other contractual arrangement which compels, guarantees, regulates, or controls the use of particular court reporting services in future cases.
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a person is prohibited from taking a deposition under any contractual agreement that requires transmission of the original transcript without the transcript having been certified as provided in Rule 30(f)	by the person before whom the deposition was taken."
Section 2.  This act becomes effective October 1, 1999, and applies to depositions taken on or after October 1, 1999.
In the General Assembly read three times and ratified this the 28th day of June, 1999.

	─────────────────── 
	Dennis A. Wicker
	President of the Senate

	─────────────────── 
	James B. Black
	Speaker of the House of Representatives

	─────────────────── 
	James B. Hunt, Jr.
	Governor

Approved 	.m. this 	 day of 	, 19