AMENDMENT TO THE CALIFORNIA RULES OF COURT Adopted by the Judicial Council on December 2, 2022, effective January 1, 2023 Rule 3.55. Court fees and costs included in all initial fee waivers ............................ 2 1 Rule 3.670. Telephone appearance ............................................................................ 2 2 Rule 10.815. Fees to be set by the court .................................................................... 7 3 4 5

2 Rule 3.55. Court fees and costs included in all initial fee waivers 1 2 Court fees and costs that must be waived upon granting an application for an initial fee 3 waiver include: 4 5 (1)−(6) * * * 6 7

(7) The court fee for a telephone appearance under Code of Civil Procedure

section 8 367.5; 9 10 (8)−(10) * * * 11 12 Rule 3.55 amended effective January 1, 2023; adopted as rule 3.61 effective January 1, 2007; 13 previously amended and renumbered as rule 3.55 effective July 1, 2009; previously amended 14 effective January 1, 2009; July 1, 2015, and September 1, 2019. 15 16 17 Rule 3.670. Telephone appearance 18 19 (

a) Policy favoring telephon e appearances 20 21 The intent of this rule is to promote uniformity in the practices and procedures 22 relating to telephone appearances in civil cases. To improve access to the courts 23 and reduce litigation costs, courts should permit parties, to the extent feasible, to 24 appear by telephone at appropriate conferences, hearings, and proceedings in civil 25 cases. 26 27 (

b) Application 28 29 Subdivisions (

c) through (

i) of this rule are suspended from January 1, 2022, to July 30 1, 2023, during which time the provisions in rule 3.672 apply in their place. This 31 rule applies to all general civil cases as defined in rule 1.6 and to unlawful detainer 32 and probate proceedings. 33 34 (c)−(i) * * * 35 36 (

j) Provision of telephone appearance services 37 38 A court may provide for telephone appearances only through one or more of the 39 following methods: 40 41

(1) An agreement with one or more vendors under a statewide master agreement 42 or agreements. 43

3 1

(2) The direct provision by the court of telephone appearance services. If a court 2 directly provides telephone services, it must collect the telephone appearance 3 fees specified in (k), except as provided in (

l) and (m). A judge may, at his or 4 her discretion, waive telephone appearance fees for parties appearing directly 5 by telephone in that judge’s courtroom. 6 7 (

k) Telephone appearance fee amounts; time for making requests 8 9 The telephone appearance fees specified in this subdivision are the statewide, 10 uniform fees to be paid by parties to a vendor or court for providing telephone 11 appearance services. Except as provided under (

l) and (m), the fees to be paid to 12 appear by telephone are as follows: 13 14

(1) The fee to appear by telephone, made by a timely request to a vendor or court 15 providing telephone appearance services, is $94 for each appearance. 16 17

(2) An additional late request fee of $30 is to be charged for an appearance by 18 telephone if the request to the vendor or the court providing telephone 19 services is not made at least two days before the scheduled appearance, 20 except: 21 22 (

A) When an opposing party has provided timely notice under (h)(4) on an 23 ex parte application or other hearing, conference, or proceeding, no late 24 fee is to be charged to that party; 25 26 (

B) When the court, on its own motion, sets a hearing or conference on 27 shortened time, no late fee is to be charged to any party; 28 29 (

C) When the matter has a tentative ruling posted within the two day 30 period, no late fee is to be charged to any party; and 31 32 (

D) When the request to appear by telephone is made by a party that 33 received notice of another party’s intent to appear and afterward 34 decides also to appear by telephone under (h)(2), no late fee is to be 35 charged to that party if its request is made to the vendor or the court 36 providing the service by noon on the court day before the hearing or 37 conference. 38 39

(3) A fee of $5 is to be charged instead of the fees under (1) and (2) if a party 40 cancels a telephone appearance request and no telephone appearance is made. 41 A hearing or appearance that is taken off calendar or continued by the court is 42 not a cancelation under this rule. If the hearing or appearance is taken off 43

4 calendar by the court, there is no charge for the telephone appearance. If the 1 hearing or appearance is continued by the court, the appearance fee must be 2 refunded to the requesting party or, if the party agrees, be applied to the new 3 hearing or appearance date. 4 5 (l)(

j) Fee waivers 6 7

(1) Effect of fee waiver 8 9 A party that has received a fee waiver must not be charged the fees for 10 telephone appearances provided under (k), subject to the provisions of Code 11 of Civil Procedure

section 367.6(b). 12 13

(2) Responsibility of requesting party 14 15 To obtain telephone services without payment of a telephone appearance fee 16 from a vendor or a court that provides telephone appearance services, a party 17 must advise the vendor or the court that he or she has received a fee waiver 18 from the court. If a vendor requests, the party must transmit a copy of the 19 order granting the fee waiver to the vendor. 20 21

(3) Lien on judgment 22 23 If a party based on a fee waiver receives telephone appearance services under 24 this rule without payment of a fee, the vendor or court that provides the 25 telephone appearance services has a lien on any judgment, including a 26 judgment for costs, that the party may receive, in the amount of the fee that 27 the party would have paid for the telephone appearance. There is no charge 28 for filing the lien. 29 30 (Subd (

j) relettered effective January 1, 2023; adopted as subd (

k) effective July 1, 2011; 31 previously amended and relettered as subd (

l) effective January 1, 2014.) 32 33 (m)(

k) Title IV-D proceedings 34 35

(1) Court-provided telephone appearance services 36 37 If a court provides telephone appearance services in a proceeding for child or 38 family support under Title IV-D of the Social Security Act brought by or 39 otherwise involving a local child support agency, the court must not charge a 40 fee for those services. 41 42

(2) Vendor-provided telephone appearance services 1 2 If a vendor provides for telephone appearance services in a proceeding for 3 child or family support under Title IV-D, the amount of the fee for a 4 telephone appearance under (k)(1) is $74 instead of $94. No portion of the 5 fee received by the vendor for a telephone appearance under this subdivision 6 is to be transmitted to the State Treasury under Government Code

section 7 72011. 8 9 (3)

(2) Responsibility Responsibility Responsibility of requesting party 10 11 When a party in a Title IV-D proceeding requests telephone appearance 12 services from a court or a vendor, the party requesting the services must 13 advise the court or the vendor that the requester is a party in a proceeding for 14 child or family support under Title IV-D brought by or otherwise involving a 15 local child support agency. 16 17 (4)

(3) Fee Fee Fee waivers applicable 18 19 The fee waiver provisions in (l)(

j) apply to a request by a party in a Title IV- 20 D proceeding for telephone appearance services from a vendor. 21 22 (n)(

l) Audibility and procedure 23 24 The court must ensure that the statements of participants are audible to all other 25 participants and the court staff and that the statements made by a participant are 26 identified as being made by that participant. 27 28 (Subd (

l) relettered effective January 1, 2023; adopted as subd (f); previously amended 29 effective January 1, 2003, and January 1, 2007; previously amended and relettered as 30 subd (

j) effective January 1, 2008; previously relettered as subd (

c) effective January 1, 31 1989, as subd (

g) effective July 1, 1998, as subd (

m) effective July 1, 2011; and as subd (n) 32 effective January 1, 2014.) 33 34 (o)(

m) Reporting 35 36 All proceedings involving telephone appearances must be reported to the same 37 extent and in the same manner as if the participants had appeared in person. 38 39 (Subd (

m) relettered effective January 1, 2023; adopted as subd (

h) effective July 1, 1998; 40 previously amended effective January 1, 2003; previously relettered as subd (

k) effective 41 January 1, 2008, as subd (

n) effective July 1, 2011; as subd (

o) effective January 1, 2014.) 42 43

6 (p)(

n) Conference call vendor or vendors 1 2 A court, by local rule, may designate the conference call vendor or vendors that 3 must be used for telephone appearances. 4 5 (Subd (

n) relettered effective January 1, 2023; adopted as subd (

i) effective July 1, 1998; 6 previously amended effective January 1, 1999, and January 1, 2003; previously relettered 7 as subd (

l) effective January 1, 2008; and as subd (

p) effective January 1, 2014; previously 8 amended and relettered as subd (

o) effective July 1, 2011.) 9 10 (q)(o) (o) (o) (

o) Information on telephone appearances 11 12 The court must publish notice providing parties with the particular information 13 necessary for them to appear by telephone at conferences, hearings, and 14 proceedings in that court under this rule. 15 16 (Subd (

o) relettered effective January 1, 2023; adopted as subd (j); previously amended 17 effective January 1, 2003, and January 1, 2007; previously amended and relettered as 18 subd (

m) effective January 1, 2008; previously relettered as subd (

p) effective July 1, 2011; 19 and as subd (

q) effective January 1, 2014.) 20 21 Advisory Committee Comment 22 23 This rule does not apply to criminal or juvenile matters, and it also does not apply to family law 24 matters, except in certain respects as provided in rule 5.324 relating to telephone appearances in 25 proceedings for child or family support under Title IV-D of the Social Security Act. (See Cal. 26 Rules of Court, rule 3.670(b) [rule applies to general civil cases and unlawful detainer and 27 probate proceedings]; rule 5.324(j) [subdivisions (j)–(

q) of rule 3.670 apply to telephone 28 appearances in Title IV-D proceedings].) 29 30 Rule 3.670 amended effective January 1, 2023; adopted as rule 298 effective March 1, 1988; 31 previously amended and renumbered as rule 3.670 effective January 1, 2007; previously 32 amended effective January 1, 1989, July 1, 1998, January 1, 1999, July 1, 1999, January 1, 2001, 33 July 1, 2002, January 1, 2003, January 1, 2008, July 1, 2011, July 1, 2013, January 1, 2014, 34 January 1, 2016, January 1, 2019, and January 1, 2022. 35 36 Subdivision (d) * * * 37 38 Subdivision (h) * * * 39 40 Subdivision (j). Under subdivision (j)(3) of this rule and Government Code

section 72010(c), 41 even for proceedings in which fees are authorized, the fees may be waived by a judicial officer, in 42

7 his or her discretion, for parties appearing directly by telephone in that judicial officer’s 1 courtroom. 2 3 4 Rule 10.815. Fees to be set by the court 5 6 (

a) Authority 7 8 Under Government Code

section 70631, a superior court may charge a reasonable 9 fee for a service or product not to exceed the costs of providing the service or 10 product, if the Judicial Council approves the fee. 11 12 (

b) Approved fees 13 14 The Judicial Council authorizes courts to charge a reasonable fee not to exceed 15 costs for the following products and services unless courts are prohibited by law 16 from charging a fee for, or providing, the product or service: 17 18 (1)–(15) * * * 19 20

(16) Training programs for attorneys who serve as court-appointed temporary 21 judges, including the materials and food provided to the participants; and 22 23

(17) Other training programs or events, including materials and food provided to 24 the participants; and 25 26

(18) Telephone appearance services. 27 28 (Subd (

b) amended effective January 1, 2023; previously amended effective July 1, 2006, 29 and January 1, 2007.) 30 31 (

c) Guidelines for determining costs 32 33 The fee charged for any product or service listed in (

b) may not exceed the court’s 34 cost in providing the product or service. In determining the costs of a product or 35 service, the court must: 36 37

(1) Identify the specific product or service; and 38 39

(2) Prepare an analysis of the direct and indirect costs on which the fee is based. 40 41 (

d) Reasonableness 42 43

8 In deciding what specific fee or fees, if any, to charge for a product or service under 1 (b), the court must determine that the fee charged is reasonable considering relevant 2 factors such as the benefits to the court and the public from providing the product 3 or service and the effects of charging the fee on public access to the court. 4 5 (

e) Reporting requirement 6 7 Each court that charges a fee under this rule must provide Judicial Council staff 8 with a description of the fee, how the amount of the fee was determined, and how 9 the fee is applied. 10 11 (

f) Public notice 12 13 The court must notify the public of any fee that it charges under this rule by 14 providing information concerning the fee in a conspicuous place such as the court’s 15 fee schedule. 16 17 (

g) Procedure for adoption of fee 18 19 If a court proposes to change any fee authorized under (

b) that it is already charging 20 or to charge any new fee authorized under (b), the court must follow the procedures 21 for adopting or amending a local rule under rule 10.613 of the California Rules of 22 Court. 23 24 Rule 10.815 amended effective January 1, 2023; adopted as rule 6.712 effective January 1, 2006; 25 previously amended effective July 1, 2006, and January 1, 2016; amended and renumbered as 26 rule 10.815 effective January 1, 2007. 27 28