Rule 3.1310.Reporting of proceedings on motions

Many California superior courtrooms do not provide an official court reporter as a matter of course for civil law and motion calendars. That gap matters most on appeal, since a reviewing court often needs a verbatim transcript to evaluate what happened at a hearing, and without a reporter or recording, no such transcript exists. Rule 3.1310 addresses that gap directly.

The rule places two obligations on a court that does not regularly provide reporting or electronic recording for motion hearings. First, the court must disclose that fact in its local rules, so litigants know in advance not to expect a reporter to be present. Second, the local rules must provide a procedure by which a party who wants an official verbatim record can arrange for a reporter or a recording, preserving the ability to build an appellate record even when the court's default practice does not supply one.