Court fee hike staggers justice system-567-percent increase in the cost of appeals, etc

Court fee hike staggers justice system

Lawmakers unwittingly have handed Georgia's legal system a knee-buckling case of sticker shock -- a 567-percent increase in the cost of appeals that lawyers and judges say will shut the courthouse door to litigants statewide.

In their haste to raise revenues, lawmakers hiked the cost of copying and preparing a case record for an appeal from $1.50 per page to $10 per page. That means the cost of preparing an appeal with a massive 10,000-page record, for example, just spiked from $15,000 to $100,000. And the less-complicated appeals typically pursued by individuals or small businesses in civil cases now will cost more than $10,000.

The fee hike was enacted during the waning days of the General Assembly in omnibus legislation that raised dozens of fees. However, most lawmakers did not realize it included a per-page fee hike for civil cases that can require thousands of pages in transcripts, orders and court motions.

"I don't think anyone involved in the legislative process -- the lawmakers, the governor's office or even the lobbyists -- had any idea of the real draconian effect this would have," Chief Justice Carol Hunstein said on Tuesday. "It could really chill our litigants' access to the courts."

http://www.ajc.com/news/atlanta/court-fee-hike-staggers-544279.html

Lawmakers again proving they don't think before they act.

This should be unconstitutional.

How long before only landowners get to vote? Or un-land owners only count as half a vote?

At a reduced cost.