The Fourth District Court of Appeals in California ruled Tuesday that a California Supreme Court ruling overturning cases where a court reporter was not provided “applies retroactively to all cases” that are “not yet final on appeal.”

The previous California Supreme Court ruling held that “an official court reporter, or other valid means to create an official verbatim record for purposes of appeal, must generally be made available to in forma pauperis litigants upon request.” The court had found that “if a local court adopts a policy of not providing official court reporters in civil cases,” then it must also include an exception for indigent people that would assure “the availability of a verbatim record of the trial court proceedings,”.

The Fourth District Court of Appeals in California found that the lack of a court reporter’s transcript in the case it was reviewing was harmful to the plaintiff’s case, and therefore reversed the judgment and “remanded for a new trial at which an official court reporter shall be provided at no charge.”