Warning about U.S. Court Reporting

[Carole]

U.S. Court Reporting is a home-run company in Southern California that I believe is running a fraudulent business. The owner is a non-CSR and will contact a reporter one time to take a job, then never pay, never answer the phone, never return voice mail messages. It is my belief that she (the owner) has no intention of ever paying reporters who work for her, but just to pocket the money.

So far I'm aware of six reporters in and around Northern California who have had this experience with her. If there are others out there, I'd like to know. Maybe we can file a claim with the DA in her county?

Carole Browne

[Tami]

Guess I have to attend a seminar if I want to hear about Carole and ending letter alphabets; is that right, Anita?? :)

[Carole]

You should really consider attending one of Anita's seminars. They're life-changing. Even if you already do realtime, Anita has some incredible principles and theories to get through some rough proceedings!

[Anita Johnston]

Hi Tami, Yessirreeee! Hearing about my alphabet endings is "the King" . Thank you Veronica and Carole -- you're both very kind. Tami, we would love to see you at the workshop. We have some new information, and what I'll be presenting at National in DC this year is what many folks has said is very essential. I'll be sharing some of that info in San Francisco at the workshop, and it includes a totally successful vision for the viture. A slight hint: allow the downturn of economic crisis thinking, negativeity, etc. to your competitors. You don't have to be part of that negativity when thre are so many great things to look foward to -- it's just about choice. My DC seminar refers to 5-1/2 killer strategies for an amazing bright future ...

[Anita Johnston]

hey, when I said the alphabet endings are "the King" I put some grin marks and they didn't seem to come thru. That was said tongue-in-cheek.

[Ewa Barnes]

I'm not sure if it's the same person, but U.S. Court Reporting owned by Elizabeth Mitchell was running a business out of Tustin and I also had the misfortune to have done a job for her and was never paid.

[Renee Pacheco]

HI, I FORTUNATELY HAVE NOT WORKED FOR THEM BUT THE SAME THING HAPPENED TO ME WITH A FIRM CALLED ATTORNEY'S CHOICE IN LA. NO LONGER ANSWER THE PHONE OR ANYTHING. HAVE YOU TRIED CALLING THE ATTORNEY YOU WORKED FOR? THAT'S A ROUTE I WENT AND AT LEAST YOU CAN HAVE THEM "FIRED" FROM WORKING FOR THE ATTORNEYS THAT GAVE THEM THE JOB IN THE FIRST PLACE

RENEE PACHECO

[Carole]

Oh, yes. Several of us called the attorney multiple times. One reporter even went to the law office in person and asked to speak to the attorney. The attorney wasn't interested in helping. A couple of us even called the insurance adjustor (these were work comp depos), and got no response. When the law firm found out we'd been in contact with the insurance adjustor (his client), he was highly irate. My depo was in December '06. One reporter actually went to US Court Reporting's "office," which turned out to be an apartment/condo.

[Lisa Migliore Black]

What about filing a bar complaint against the attorney, something along the lines of unjust enrichment? Maybe that would prompt his participation? At the very least, his response to the complaint may produce cancelled checks that would be helpful in any criminal/civil action the group of reporters undertake against the reporting firm.

I've not had any dealings with this individual, but I have experienced a similar situation with a solo reporter. Attorney and referring reporter were friends, and I suspected they were covering for each other--one of them had my money. I ultimately received payment by virtue of a judgment. I received interest and attorney's fees, which more than doubled the amount of the original invoice.

Good luck, ladies.

[Suzanne Stotz]

If you have the 2009 Compendium of Freelance Reporters from the Cal. Court Reporters Board, look up on pages 73-75. There are CA statutes concerning Business and Professions Code. I don't think she's allowed by law to run an agency without being a CSR.

[Judy]

IF that's true, there are a lot of agencies that are either going to be going out of business or takin on a CSR partner.

If you know of a CSR agency that's running without a CSR-backed owner, please let the CA CSR board know so they can investigate.