Evidence indicating overbilling by several court reporters in Gwinnett County has prompted the creation of new guidelines to hold guardians of the record more accountable.

The guidelines, which include closer scrutiny of invoices, were created to address glaring pay disparities among court reporters uncovered last year by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The court reporters' billing information was obtained through an Open Records Act request.

The billing information showed some court reporters were making more money in 2007 than the judges for whom they worked. And two court reporters – Pamela Lennard and Mike Ables -- had each billed the county for more than $170,000 in 2007. That's double or triple the amount that eight of the other court reporters took home that year.

A subsequent audit conducted by the county in March uncovered multiple instances where Lennard and Ables included lengthy court calendars in their transcripts, adding to the number of pages for which they could charge. The audit also found indications that on several occasions, Lennard and Ables double-billed for transcripts or billed the county for transcripts they never filed.

The audit found evidence indicating that Lennard had overbilled the county for an estimated $16,787 during the examined time frame, which was November 2004 through January 2009. The audit accuses Ables of overbilling by more than $7,700 during that time.

Court reporters are subcontractors in Gwinnett County, not full-time employees. They are licensed by the state to document judicial proceedings and prepare transcripts.

Superior Court Judge William Ray said he accepted Lennard's resignation about a year ago when it became apparent that her invoices were "tremendously out of line." Ables lost his position in November when Superior Court Judge Richard T. Winegarden was voted out of office.

Contacted by phone on Friday, Lennard said she had not intentionally overbilled the county for services. She said the clerk's office frequently lost or duplicated transcripts, which may account for why the audit uncovered evidence of transcripts that were not filed or double-billed. Lennard also said she included court calendars in her transcripts at the request of prosecutors.

"There just weren't any guidelines, there was no uniformity," Lennard said. "Everybody did everything different, apparently."

The new standards, which took effect in September, require the judge to sign off on a bill before it can be submitted it to the county.

The guidelines also specify which transcript formats are acceptable and set time limits on when transcripts and bills are to be filed. Transcripts for most criminal and civil proceedings must be filed with the clerk of court within 120 days. Court reporters also must submit bills to the county within 30 days of when a service is performed.

"There's never a guarantee the system can't be taken advantage of, but we've certainly put more checks in place to try to catch situations like this before they get out of hand," Ray said.

Court administrators in Cobb and DeKalb counties said Friday that they don't have guidelines in place for court reporters beyond rules that are set by the state. Don Plummer, a spokesman for the Fulton County Superior Court, said a committee was formed last year to examine court reporter practices, but he didn't know what recommendations it had made or implemented.

AJC results

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution published a series of stories last year investigating glaring disparities in pay among court reporters in Gwinnett County, based upon billing records obtained via the Open Records Act. In March, the county launched an audit of court reporter billing that focused on the two highest-paid court reporters and found evidence indicating overbilling. A committee of Superior Court judges then created guidelines to make practices more uniform and increase accountability for court reporters going forward. The guidelines took effect in September.

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