Arbitration: transcription by certified shorthand reporter.

Existing law establishes standards for arbitration, and requires a court to vacate an arbitration award if it makes certain findings. This bill would provide that a party to an arbitration has the right to have a certified shorthand reporter transcribe any deposition, proceeding, or hearing as the official record. The bill would require a party requesting a certified shorthand reporter to make his or her request in a demand, response, answer, or counterclaim related to the arbitration, or at a pre-hearing scheduling conference at which a deposition, proceeding, or hearing is being calendared. The bill would also require the party requesting the transcript to incur the expense of the certified shorthand reporter, except as specified in a consumer arbitration. The bill would authorize a party whose request has been refused by the arbitrator to petition the court for an order to compel the arbitrator to grant the party's request to have a certified shorthand reporter transcribe any deposition, proceeding, or hearing, and for an order to stay any deposition, proceeding, or hearing pending the court's determination of the petition.