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Analysis of Court Filing Fees

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Analysis of Court Filing Fees If you have issues viewing or accessing this file, please contact us at NCJRS.gov. PURPOSES AND USES OF FEES Survey and The use of filing fees in this country had it.. origin in the English tradition of Analysis of compensating court officials from fees charged to litigants.s Since state and local governments started paying the Court Filing Fees salaries of judges and court clerks, how­ ever, two other justifications for the By E. Keith Stott. Jr., lind Richard N. Ross use of filing fees have been emphasized. III late 1975 tile National Cel/ter sta.!! Although the extent of judicial par­ The first is that filing fees deter frivo­ prepared a study of court }fling fees for ticipation in shaping the social order lous litigation, thereby controlling court tlte Missouri o'{lice of State Courts Ad­ and resolving private disputes has caseloads. Recent research has shown, ministrator. The study. a part oJ' a greatly increased during the past few however, that filing fees do not deter larger project to determine tile extent decades, adequate financing of state litigation because they are only a small alld <tI.Tect of court costs on litigatioJl. court opel'ations has never become a part of the overall cost of litigation. produced some illterestillg alld us<;jitl reality. Judges and court administrators Other court costs and expenses related iI{/'ormatioll that otller courts have sillce have engaged in difficult and frequently to litigation have a more important im­ requestedfor similar studies or projects unsuccessful competitions in the budget pact on the decision to file a lawsuit. in tlleir OWIl stales. process to obtain money to provide The Alaska Judicial Council, for ex­ Becal/se of the continuing illterest ill court services and facilities. The result ample, observed in a 1974 policy paper COllrt jillllg fees. tile Natiollal Cel/ter has often been justice rationed or de­ on court fees: conducted 1I lIew alld more t/W/'OUgtl layed, Or at worst denied.! One commonly recognized pur­ sllrl'ey (~(collrtJi/illgfees ill tile summer The growing interest in court filing pose of the filing fee is .. , for qJ' 1977. Tllis article summarizes the fees ("docket fees") as a source of rev­ limiting crank claims and friv­ IllqjOI' findil/gs of the earlier study al/d enue is a natural result of this situ­ olous lawsuits which might presents the complete results of the re­ ation. Available figures indicate that otherwise be filed .... But the cent surl'ey. It also cOl/tains WI analysis filing fees can generate substantial legitimacy of the claim that the q( the traditional and practical reasons amounts of money, although consider­ fee screens frivolous suits is con­ for tile elldurance qrfilillg fees ill state able variation exists from state to state. siderably more problematic. Cer­ cOllrt ~ystems and CI discussiO/l of the For example, during the 1976 fiscal tainly the working of such a price 11I((jOI' isslles tlial stumM be cOl/sidered year, the Idaho courts produced total mechanism in no way distin­ wllell del'eloping or altering policies re­ revenues of $4.5 million, of which ap­ guishes between the meritorious [CIted /ofiHngfees. proximately $757,000, or 17 percent, contract claims of less value than came from filing tees. 2 In the 1975-76 the filing fee, and the flippant fiscal year, Colorado courts collected claim of the litigious neurotic .... about $2.24 million from civil docket Perhaps for most people the more fees, or 44 percent of the niore than $5 active deterrent to filing of frivo­ million in court-generated revenues.' lous lawsuits is the cost of an at­ On the other hand, only 2.5 percent of torney.6 the $15.4 million of revenue produced A second reason for levying filing fees by the District of Columbia courts in is that they represent a proper charge 1976 came from filing fees. 4 The pOint for the use of civil courts by individuals is that filing fees can be, at the very seeking a private benefit. "User" fees least, a significant SOurce of revenue; have, in fact, become increasingly pop~ and that the issues surrounding them ular with local governments. After the ate therefore important to legisiatnres, property tax, they are the second most judges, COUlt administrators, and the productive source of local governrr,-'''~ public. l'evenue. 7 8 State Court Journal User fees can be an effective substi­ dueing, or that fees should ne(:es­ centage of the total cost of court tute for local non-property taxes. As ap­ sarily be commensurate wi th ben­ operation. plied to courts, however, this approach efits received. 8 - Court fees have constituted a de­ has generated a conflict of opinion. Othel'S reject the "private benefit" clining percentage of the payment Filing fees either become part of a rationale for the existence of filing fees for operating civil courts because state's general fund or are earmarked in much stronger terms. For I!xample: many of the fees have not been re­ by the state legislature for specific pur­ No one would ask the Executive vised to offset the spiraling costs of poses related in one degree or another Branch or the Legislative 13ranch court operations. to the administration of justice (for to justify itself as a self-liqui­ - In most cases the court fees consti­ example, judges' retirement, law li­ dating institution. The people are tute only a small fraction of a liti­ braries, court reporters, legal aid, police perfectly content to pay for those gant's expenses, and when court training, driver education, and night services by way of taxes. Why costs are compared with the expense courts). Some observers view these fees should not the people be equally of legal representation, it is clear as essentially another form of taxation, entitled to the services 'of the Ju­ that even a substantial increase in borne mainly by those who can afford dicial Branch of government with­ user fees would not be a burden in to pay it, since filing fees are often out being required to pay fees most cases. waived for indigents. One critic of this every time they turn al:ound or to - A number of state organizations, in­ view of filing fees has said: take a pauper's oath in order to cluding local counties, strongly sup­ [Tlhe court system as a social in­ get into the courthousl~. 9 port greater use of "user fees" in fi­ stitution must be conceived as a Another objection to the "private nancing the state's court system. "public service" in terms of costs benefit" rationale is that civil cases may - It is reasonable to expect that those and revenues. Like police pro­ provide public benefits at the same time who avail themselves of the dispute tection, ambulance services and they redress private wrongs or may, in settlement machinery of the state fire protection, the courts require fact, be brought in the pubHz interest bear a fair share of the cost In order such a broad economic base of to begin with. And other observers have to maintain that goal, fees should support that they cannot be con­ objected to filing fees because, in their undergo revision at least biennially.)O ceived as potentially self-suffic­ view, the activity of doing justice may The study also suggested that be- ient. The cost of mobilizing fire take on the appearance of a revenue­ cause of the public interest in having equipment and trained fire­ producing commercial enterprise. private disputes settled in an orderly fighters is far in excess of what Despite the existence of these view­ and peaceful manner, the remainder any citizen could afford to pay, or points, filing fees remain a fairly un­ of the total cost of civil court operation would be expected to pay if his controversial tradition, probably be­ should be financed through use of house caught fire. Similarly, the cause they are usually low in amount general tax revenues. Also, increases in cost of a court facility, a judge, (compared with other costs oflitigation) user fees should be subject to appropri­ the clerks of court, etc., could and are paid only on the rare occasion ate provisions for waiver of these costs never be offset by the users of the that a citizen files a lawsuit. The pre­ for indigents.lI process alone. Indeed, the basic valent attitude is that filing fees rep­ reason for having a community­ resent a ·legitimate charge levied by Setting the Filing wide tax base is to provide the legislatures to raise revenue to support Fee Amounts revenues necessary to finance ser­ the increased activities of government, vices which no one uses regularly even though the fees have only a sman In a much less complicated era, but everyone wants available, and relationship to the total cost of adminis­ courts developed itemized fee schedules services which no one can afford terinls justice. An example of this out­ that attempted to relate fees to the act­ but everyone needs the potential look was exprassed 1n a 1973 study of ual costs of services by charging sep­ benefit of. Hence, ... (this] policy the Wisconsin courts. The report con­ arately for each of the many different discussion does not presume in cluded that: court transactions. Fees and costs in the every case ~hat users should pay - Persons who make use of civil courts federal courts before 1944, for example, their own way, that the system for tbe purpose of settling private were charged on a basis similar to many should necessarily be revenue pro- disputes assume a very small per- state courts, with a $5 fee for docketing 9 , Spring 1978 ,~ the case, a $1 fee for transferring the filing fee that is representative of the case to the printed calendar, a 2S¢ fee actual minimum cost to the courts to for entering a continuance, a 2S¢ fee for commence litigation in the courts of the filing a motion, and so forth.12 state.
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