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# Judge says stenographer is as good as her word
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/judge-says-stenographer-is-as-good-as-her-word/
- Published: 2002-04-24T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T00:15:06.000Z
- Author: Andrew Fixmer
- Tags: Crime, Santa Monica, #archive-import

*Judge orders woman to pay stenographer $150*

The written word is only as good as the one spoken, a judge ruled this week.

Stenographer Vikki Grounds sued Paula Sue Desley in Santa Monica Small Claims Court this week after Desley refused to pay her for transcribing 10 micro-cassette tapes from a recorder hidden in a purse.

The conversations needed to be written and notarized for a separate court case in which Desley was attempting to get a restraining order against an ex-boyfriend who allegedly threatened her.

Desley secretly carried the tape recorder around with her until she had racked up enough evidence against her unsuspecting boyfriend. She took the tapes to Grounds, who agreed to do the transcribing for $200.

“The recorder was hidden in her purse and people would walk in and out of rooms,” Grounds said. “Some times car alarms and sirens were going off in the background. It was really tough to catch everything.”

Grounds said she also was dismayed at how she perceived Desley instigating her boyfriend.

“I was shocked listening to the tape because she was always doing things to make him angry and inciting him,” she said.

After Grounds finished the job, she met with Desley to discuss the transcripts and make minor corrections.

“Many of the things she says he said I didn’t hear at all,” Grounds said. “I’m not going to put something down that I didn’t hear.”

Desley refused to pay Grounds because the transcripts were incomplete. Desley testified that another stenographer picked up the conversations and was able to provide a complete transcript, Desley said.

Desley offered to play the tapes for the court, to prove the conversations were audible, but Judge Pro Tem Michael B. Moore declined.

“You can hear the conversations clearly where she says it’s intelligible,” Desley said.

Moore ruled in Grounds’ favor because Desley did not give the stenographer enough of a chance to correct her work. He ordered Desley to pay $150 to Grounds, noting that even $200 is a small amount for how much work Desley wanted done.

“(Grounds) is a professional and she has been doing this job for a while, so I have to believe these tapes were difficult to understand,” he said. “She already had cut you a good deal and I do believe she did a lot of work.”

Desley said she will appeal Moore’s decision.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on April 24, 2002.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/042402.pdf?ref=smdp.com)