Also known as: reporters' notes · reporter's notes · reporters notes · Reporters' Notes
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
Notes prepared by a court reporter to record grand jury proceedings other than deliberations or voting. An attorney for the government retains control of the notes and any resulting transcript unless the court orders otherwise.
A federal grand jury heard testimony from hospital administrator Lopez about billing practices. The court reporter became ill and stopped recording before Lopez finished. Lopez later moved to dismiss the indictment. The court denied the motion because the failure to record was unintentional and did not affect the validity of the prosecution.
Plaintiff Regina Robinson testified before a grand jury about a car accident. A sudden medical emergency interrupted the session. The court reporter's notes captured the testimony up to that point. The notes remained under the prosecutor's control for later use in assessing the witness's account.
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Journalist Ronald Reed faced a defamation suit brought by Roberto Reyes. Reyes sought production of Reed's editorial notes from a published story. The court permitted limited discovery into the notes to evaluate actual malice while protecting unrelated materials.
Raven Logistics sued Continental Oil in a California court over a contract formed in another state. The parties disputed which state's law applied to the underlying events. The court reviewed the grand jury reporter's notes from a related federal investigation to determine the contacts and applicable rules.
Rajesh Rao sued his former employer after termination. The employer had recorded a related internal investigation before a grand jury. The court allowed use of the reporter's notes to show what Rao had disclosed during the proceeding.
A Florida trial court permitted television coverage of a criminal proceeding. The defendant challenged the presence of cameras. The appellate court examined the grand jury reporter's notes to confirm that no recording gaps had occurred during key testimony.
No. The rule provides that the validity of a prosecution is not affected by an unintentional failure to make a recording. Courts therefore deny motions to dismiss that rest solely on an accidental gap in the record.
An attorney for the government retains control of the recording, the reporter's notes, and any transcript unless the court orders otherwise. Witnesses and other participants have no independent right to custody of the materials.
No. An unrecorded session by itself does not affect the validity of the prosecution. The defendant must identify some additional prejudice or legal defect beyond the mere absence of a record.
…Covenant of Good Faith and Fair Dealing as a Tort (1985) 73 Cal.L.Rev. 1291, fn. 3 [hereafter Reconstructing Breach ]). As the reporter's notes to Restatement Second of Contracts, chapter 16, section 344 et seq., pages 101-102, state, "a breach of contract will result in a gain in economic efficiency' if the party contemplating…