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Section 52-261a – Fees and expenses of officers and persons serving process or performing other duties for the Judicial Department or Division of Criminal Justice

May 11, 2021 | Civil Procedure, Connecticut

(a) Any process served by any officer or person for the Judicial Department or Division of Criminal Justice shall be served in accordance with the following schedule of fees:

(1) Except as provided in subdivision (3) of this subsection, each officer or person who serves process shall receive a fee of not more than thirty dollars for the service of such process on a person and an additional fee of ten dollars for the service of such process on each additional person.
(2) Except as provided in subdivision (3) of this subsection, in addition to the fee set forth in subdivision (1) of this subsection, each officer or person who serves process shall receive, for each mile of travel, the same amount per mile as provided for state employees pursuant to section 5-141c, to be computed from the place where such officer or person received the process to the place of service, and thence in the case of civil process to the place of return, provided, if more than one process is served on one person at one time by any such officer or person, the total cost of travel for such service shall be the same as for the service of one process only.
(3) Each officer or person who serves process to enforce the obligation of an attorney pursuant to subdivision (2) of subsection (a) of section 51-81d shall receive twenty cents for each mile of travel, to be computed from the place where such officer or person received the process to the place of service, and thence to the place of return.
(4) Each officer or person who serves process shall also receive the moneys actually paid for town clerk’s fees on the service of process.
(5) Each officer or person who serves process shall also receive the moneys actually paid for fees for the disclosure or search of records of the Department of Motor Vehicles in connection with the service of process.
(6) Any officer or person required to summon jurors by personal service of a warrant to attend court shall receive for the first ten miles of travel while so engaged, such mileage to be computed from the place where such officer or person receives the process to the place of service, twenty-five cents for each mile, and for each additional mile, ten cents.
(7) For summoning any juror to attend court otherwise than by personal service of the warrant, such officer or person shall receive only the sum of fifty cents and actual disbursements necessarily expended by such officer or person in making service thereof as directed.
(b) Notwithstanding the provisions of this section, for summoning grand jurors, such officer or person shall receive only such officer’s or person’s actual expenses and such reasonable sum for services as are taxed by the court.
(c) The following fees shall be allowed and paid:

(1) For taking bail or bail bond, one dollar;
(2) for copies of writs and complaints, exclusive of endorsements, sixty cents per page;
(3) for endorsements, forty cents per page or fraction thereof;
(4) for service of a warrant for the seizure of intoxicating liquors, or for posting and leaving notices after the seizure, or for the destruction or delivery of any such liquors under order of court, one dollar;
(5) for the removal and custody of such liquors so seized, reasonable expenses and one dollar;
(6) for levying an execution, when the money is actually collected and paid over, or the debt secured by the officer to the acceptance of the creditor, three per cent on the amount of the execution;
(7) on the levy of an execution on real property and on application for sale of personal property attached, to each appraiser, for each half day of actual service, two dollars, to surveyors when necessarily employed, four dollars per day and to each chain bearer necessarily employed, two dollars per day, which sums, with those paid to the town clerk, shall be, by the officer levying the execution, endorsed thereon, together with such officer’s own fees;
(8) for causing an execution levied on real property to be recorded, fees for travel and fifty cents;
(9) for services on an application for the sale of personal property attached, or in selling mortgaged property foreclosed under a decree of court, the same fees as for similar services on executions;
(10) for committing any person to a community correctional center, in civil actions, twenty cents a mile for travel, from the place of the court to the community correctional center, in lieu of all other expenses; and
(11) for summoning and attending a jury for reassessing damages or benefits on a highway, three dollars a day.
(d) The court shall tax as costs a reasonable amount for the care of property held by any officer under attachment or execution. The officer serving any attachment or execution may claim compensation for time and expenses of any person, in keeping, securing or removing property taken thereon, provided such officer shall make out a bill. The bill shall specify the labor done and by whom, the time spent, the travel, the money paid, if any, and to whom and for what. The compensation for the services shall be fixed on the basis of two dollars per hour and the amount of expenses and shall be taxed by the court with the costs.
(e) The following fees shall be allowed and paid, except to state employees in the classified service:

(1) For each arrest in criminal cases, one dollar and fifty cents;
(2) for any necessary assistants in making criminal arrests, a reasonable sum, the necessity of such assistance to be proved by the oath of the officer;
(3) for travel with a prisoner to court or to a community correctional center, forty cents a mile, provided (A) if more than one prisoner is transported at the same time, the total cost of travel shall be forty cents per mile for each prisoner transported up to a maximum of two dollars per mile, regardless of the number of prisoners transported, and (B) if a prisoner is transported for commitment on more than one mittimus, the total cost of travel shall be the same as for the transportation of one prisoner committed on one mittimus only;
(4) for holding a prisoner in custody upon criminal process for each twelve hours or fraction thereof, to be taxed as expenses in the case, one dollar;
(5) for holding a prisoner in custody by order of court, one dollar a day;
(6) for keepers, for every twelve hours, in lieu of all other expenses, except in special cases to be approved by the court, five dollars;
(7) for executing a mittimus of commitment to the Connecticut Correctional Institution, Somers, for each prisoner, one dollar and fifty cents;
(8) for transporting any prisoner from a community correctional center to the Connecticut Correctional Institution, Somers, or for transporting any person under commitment from a community correctional center to the John R. Manson Youth Institution, Cheshire, twenty-five cents a mile, to be taxed as expenses, provided, if more than one prisoner or person is transported, the total cost of travel shall be twenty-five cents per mile for each prisoner or person transported up to a maximum of one dollar per mile, regardless of the number of prisoners or persons transported;
(9) for taking samples to a state chemist by order of court, two dollars, and for each mile of travel in going and returning, ten cents; and
(10) for producing any prisoner, held by criminal process, in court or before a judge under habeas corpus proceedings, twenty-five cents a mile travel and two dollars and fifty cents a day for attendance, to be taxed and allowed by the court or judge.

Conn. Gen. Stat. ยง 52-261a

(P.A. 81-80, S. 2; P.A. 82-160, S. 133; P.A. 86-186, S. 17; P.A. 88-279, S. 2, 3; P.A. 93-329, S. 13, 14; P.A. 99-26, S. 23, 39; P.A. 02-28, S. 1; P.A. 18-31, S. 41.)

Amended by P.A. 20-0001,S. 2 of the Connecticut Acts of the 2020 Third Special Session, eff. 10/2/2020.
Amended by P.A. 18-0031, S. 41 of the Connecticut Acts of the 2018 Regular Session, eff. 7/1/2018.