Appointed Counsel Vol. 8 - Expenses

Attorneys, investigators, and experts are not only entitled to a reasonable fee, but they are also entitled to be reimbursed for their reasonable and necessary expenses. Section 4 of Tennessee Supreme Court, Rule 13 gives guidelines for what is covered. In this episode of Appointed Counsel, host Joe Byrd explains this guidance in detail; covering filing fees, travel, and other necessary expenses, as well as what is not covered under Rule 13. This podcast is for attorneys, court reporters, investigators, and experts.

Produced by David Stripling, Tennessee Administrative Office of the Courts

Transcript

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Host
Welcome to Appointed Counsel podcast presented by Tennessee Court Talk. For those involved in indigent representation, I’m Joe Byrd, lead attorney for the Indigent Services Team of the Tennessee Administrative Office of the court. Episode eight expenses under rule 13, section four A attorneys, investigators, and experts are not only entitled to reasonable compensation, they're also entitled to be reimbursed for their reasonable and necessary expenses.

00;00;29;04 - 00;00;50;14
Host
Now, in rule 13, expenses are covered under section four. But before we get into the weeds, let's take a look at a few overarching points. First of all, rule 13 sets out caps for compensation, but those caps don't apply to expenses. For instance, there might be a cap for a claim type, but again, it only applies to the compensation.

00;00;50;16 - 00;01;24;03
Host
The expenses are independent of that cap. Now an expense may be reduced because it doesn't comply with rule 13, but it is unrelated to the caps of section two. Another thing is that expenses, particularly those related to travel expenses, are based within the overarching state policy. Policy eight of the Comprehensive Travel Regulations of the Tennessee Department of Finance and Administration states that when traveling, state employees should be as conservative as circumstances permit, the lower costs should be selected whenever practical.

00;01;24;05 - 00;01;49;14
Host
Reimbursement for travel will be based upon the most direct and expeditious route possible. Employees traveling by indirect route must assume any extra expense incurred. So that's the overarching point. We want to keep our expenses as low as possible because these are taxpayer dollars. Another point that I want to raise before we get into the weeds is what expenses are not paid under rule 13.

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Host
Well, most of you should know that rule 13, section 4A2 says overhead is not something that is paid as an expense. Now, rule 13 doesn't define what overhead is, but you can think of this as being things like office expenses, utilities, rent, an office, supplies, pens, paper, envelopes, printers, computers, folders, the subscription cost to Westlaw or Lexis. These things are not covered under the rule, but also there are other expenses that are covered as well.

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Host
Any expenses that are waived for indigent parties or paid by other agencies or entities are not paid under rule 13, for instance, filing fees Tennessee Code Annotated 821-401A provides what fees that the clerks can charge. However, the section continues nothing in this section should be construed to limit the ability of a party to initiate a judicial proceeding by filing a pauper's oath.

00;02;48;01 - 00;03;11;28
Host
Another expense that is paid from another source would be a subpoena and costs for fact witnesses and criminal matter. Tennessee. Rule of Criminal Procedure 17 B provides that on a defendant's ex parte application, the court shall order that a subpoena be issued for a named witness if the defendant shows an inability to pay the witness fees, and that the presence of the witnesses necessary for an adequate defense.

00;03;12;01 - 00;03;37;18
Host
If the court orders the subpoena to be issued, the process costs and witness fees shall be paid in the same manner as those paid for state witnesses. In other words, not rule 13 and juvenile matters. Tennessee Code 37. Dash one. Dash 150 provides that the following expenses may be charged upon the funds of the county. Cost of medical and other examinations and treatment of a child that is ordered by the court.

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Host
Cost of any pre adjudicatory placement of a child pursuant to sections 37, Dash one, dash one, 14 and 37. Dash one, one, 16, including necessary transportation of the child to such placement and the expense of service of summons notices, subpoena travel expenses of witnesses except for the cost of transporting the child who has been committed to a state correctional institution on an offense that would be a felony if committed by an adult.

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Host
TBI diversion fees are also paid by another agency or waived, and are not paid under rule 13. Indigent defendants may not be able to use the online applications, but when they mail, fax, or email their forms, they will be able to get the diversion application processed. You can check with the TBI website. The CJIS division for more information.

00;04;30;04 - 00;04;56;21
Host
Another and I have to be careful not to get in the woods too deeply on this is for electronic monitoring and October 2023 the Electronic Monitoring indigency Fund was checked under the EMIF. still, interlock systems can be reimbursed. That is through the Department of Treasury Claims and Risk Management. But there is now an alternate EMIF or AEMIF.

00;04;56;27 - 00;05;22;18
Host
The new Alternate Electronic Monitoring indigency fund is a financial reimbursement program to local jurisdictions who provide or install devices ordered by a judge for indigent persons required to have monitoring devices. This is a grant structured program. It's funded out of a local government and state at a 5050 cost sharing program. The monitoring device is eligible for reimbursement from the Alternate Electronic Monitoring indigency Fund.

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Host
Are transdermal devices, electronic monitoring devices with random alcohol or drug testing, and GPS monitoring devices in all, the EMIF or AEMIF. All the electronic monitoring is not covered under rule 13, but through these other indigency funds. Finally, an expense that is not covered is mentioned in section four, A3J expenses related to an indigent party's appearance.

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Host
These are things such as haircut, clothing, dental plates, those sorts of things. Now let's get a little deeper into the weeds on the expenses under section four. First, there's a memo that we posted on the AOC website back in 2023 that discusses the different kinds of expenses and how you should pay close attention to how these expenses are claimed.

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Host
The first thing I would mention to you are court reporters, and the most important thing I can say is the court reporters are different. Pay close attention. We actually have a separate memo for court reporters and you always have to have prior approval on the court reporters. It's important to note the court reporter expenses are never considered miscellaneous expenses.

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Host
And except for felony trials, they require prior approval by the judge and the AOC before the court reporter performs any work. Also remember, retain only court reporters who are already employed by the AOC or who have already executed contracts on file with the AOC. The AOC maintains a list of these court reporters and will be happy to provide it to you upon request.

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Host
Contact Lisa Angel here at the AOC. Make sure that you're paying attention to the rate that court reporters can be paid. Transcription in services is $4 a page for set, which includes one original and one copy, and then $0.50 per page for each additional copy. Now, miscellaneous expenses has changed over the last year, and the memo that we've just referred to goes over that quite well.

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Host
Miscellaneous expenses are mentioned under section 4A31, and it includes various expenses necessary to representation that total less than $250 for the entire claim section 4A31 provides some examples of miscellaneous expenses, but they're not limited to those things such as postage or commercial delivery service. Film. We also will include things like memory devices. Typically, memory devices such as a small thumb drive, can be under a miscellaneous expense, but other expenses such as large, separate hard drives may be different.

00;07;54;12 - 00;08;20;23
Host
Often, video footage in discovery needs a separate standalone hard drive that can fit within miscellaneous expenses, but oftentimes will cause the total miscellaneous expenses to exceed $250. As general rule, you might have to get a prior approval for that. And also keep in mind that that hard drive stays with the clients file. It is not to be used by the attorney as part of any other cases.

00;08;20;26 - 00;08;48;12
Host
The expense for private process server can also fit within the expenses. Even in the miscellaneous expenses. However, the party being served must be a necessary party and it can only occur where the service by the county sheriff is impossible or cannot be completed timely. All miscellaneous expenses must be supported with receipts except for the in-house postage, and that amount by policy is set to $8 per claim per day.

00;08;48;14 - 00;09;12;00
Host
As a general rule, I suggest you keep receipts for all expenses the three expenses that are exceptions to the general rule that do not require receipts would be mileage in house copies. And as I have mentioned already, postage up to $8 per day per claim expenses in section four B are expenses that require prior approval. Generally, you can think of if they don't fall in a category.

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Host
In section four A, you need to get an order for prior approval. This applies specifically to a court reporter under rule 13, whether it's an appearance or transcript. Also, if any copying costs exceed $500, the attorney must get a prior approval. And if there's going to be any out-of-state travel, those travel expenses need to have prior approval. Now let's talk about travel as a whole.

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Host
When it comes to lodging and meals, there are some links that are set out in section 4A3C. However, those links are no longer valid. I suggest that you go to the General Services Administration, or you can just google Conus - CONUS. and it will take you to the general services Administration that provides rates for a specific city that you'll select for the year, and it will give you both what the lodging rate and what the meals would be.

00;10;06;24 - 00;10;29;21
Host
Keep in mind that when you travel, you need to have a receipt for the meal. You can't just take a per diem for those days. Also related to travel is our parking. Reimbursement for parking at the present time is $10 a day, and you still need your receipt for that. These are some of the expenses that attorneys and experts and investigators may be entitled to.

00;10;29;22 - 00;10;56;29
Host
Pay close attention to section four whenever you're looking at those expenses, and if you ever have a question, reach out and contact us by email. We'll be glad to help you at any time. For more information, check out the Indigent Representation web page at T and courts.gov.