ENGROSSED

COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE

FOR

COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE

FOR

Senate Bill No. 9

(By Senator Mitchell)

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[Originating in the Committee on Finance;

reported February 26, 2002.]

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A BILL to amend and reenact section one, article three, chapter fifty of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended; and to amend and reenact section eleven, article one, chapter fifty-nine of said code, all relating to payment of court costs; and providing that state agencies are exempt from payment of certain court costs in advance.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section one, article three, chapter fifty of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be amended and reenacted; and that section eleven, article one, chapter fifty-nine of said code be amended and reenacted, all to read as follows:
CHAPTER 50. MAGISTRATE COURTS.

ARTICLE 3. COSTS, FINES AND RECORDS.
§50-3-1. Costs in civil actions.
The following costs shall be charged in magistrate courts in civil actions and shall be collected in advance, except that costs due from state agencies shall not be collected in advance:
(a) For filing and trying any civil action and for all services connected therewith with the action, but excluding services regarding enforcement of judgment, the following amounts dependent upon the amount of damages sought in the complaint:
Where the action is for five hundred dollars or less
$25.00
Where the action is for more than five hundred dollars but not more than one thousand dollars$30.00
Where the action is for more than one thousand dollars but not more than two thousand dollars$35.00
Where the action is for more than two thousand dollars

$45.00
Where the action seeks relief other than money damages $25.00
On and after the first day of July, one thousand nine hundred ninety-six, five Five dollars from each of the filing fees listed above will in this subdivision shall be deposited in the court security fund created by the provisions of section fourteen, article three, chapter fifty-one of this code.
(b) For each service regarding enforcement of a judgment including execution, suggestion, garnishment and suggestee execution$ 5.00
(c) For each bond filed in a case$ 1.00
(d) For taking deposition of witness for each hour or portion thereof of an hour$ 1.00
(e) For taking and certifying acknowledgment of a deed or other writing or taking oath upon an affidavit$ .50
(f) For mailing any matter required or provided by law to be mailed by certified or registered mail with return receipt $ 1.00
Costs incurred in a civil action shall be reflected in any judgment rendered thereon on the action. The provisions of section one, article two, chapter fifty-nine of this code, relating to the payment of costs by poor persons, shall be are applicable to all costs in civil actions.

CHAPTER 59. FEES, ALLOWANCES AND COSTS;

NEWSPAPERS; LEGAL ADVERTISEMENTS.

ARTICLE 1. FEES AND ALLOWANCES.

§59-1-11. Fees to be charged by clerk of circuit court.
(a) The clerk of a circuit court shall charge and collect for services rendered as such clerk the following fees and such the fees shall be paid in advance by the parties for whom such the services are to be rendered, except that costs due from state agencies shall not be collected in advance:
(1) For instituting any civil action under the rules of civil procedure, any statutory summary proceeding, any extraordinary remedy, the docketing of civil appeals, or any other action, cause, suit or proceeding, eighty-five dollars: Provided, That the fee for instituting an action for divorce shall be is one hundred five dollars;
(2) Beginning on and after the first day of July, one thousand nine hundred ninety-nine, for For instituting an action for divorce, separate maintenance or annulment, one hundred thirty-five dollars;
(3) For petitioning for the modification of an order involving child custody, child visitation, child support or spousal support, eighty-five dollars; and
(4) For petitioning for an expedited modification of a child support order, thirty-five dollars.
(b) In addition to the foregoing fees, the following fees shall likewise also be charged and collected:
(1) For preparing an abstract of judgment, five dollars;
(2) For any transcript, copy or paper made by the clerk for use in any other court or otherwise to go out of the office, for each page, fifty cents;
(3) For action on suggestion, ten dollars;
(4) For issuing an execution, ten dollars;
(5) For issuing or renewing a suggestee execution, including copies, postage, registered or certified mail fees and the fee provided by section four, article five-a, chapter thirty-eight of this code, three dollars;
(6) For vacation or modification of a suggestee execution, one dollar;
(7) For docketing and issuing an execution on a transcript of judgment from magistrate's court, three dollars;
(8) For arranging the papers in a certified question, writ of error, appeal or removal to any other court, five dollars;
(9) For postage and express and for sending or receiving decrees, orders or records, by mail or express, three times the amount of the postage or express charges;
(10) For each subpoena, on the part of either plaintiff or defendant, to be paid by the party requesting the same subpoena, fifty cents; and
(11) For additional service (plaintiff or appellant) where any case remains on the docket longer than three years, for each additional year or part year, twenty dollars.
(c) The clerk shall tax the following fees for services in any criminal case against any defendant convicted in such circuit court:
(1) In the case of any misdemeanor, fifty-five dollars; and
(2) In the case of any felony, sixty-five dollars.
(d) No such A clerk shall not be required to handle or accept for disbursement any fees, cost or amounts, of any other officer or party not payable into the county treasury, except it be on order of the court or in compliance with the provisions of law governing such the fees, costs or accounts.