2011 Connecticut Code
Title 52 Civil Actions
Chapter 901 Damages, Costs and Fees
Sec. 52-260. Witness fees.

      Sec. 52-260. Witness fees. (a) The fees of a witness for attendance before any court, the General Assembly or any committee thereof, when summoned by the state, or before any legal authority, shall be fifty cents a day, and for travel to the place of trial, except as provided in section 54-152, shall be the same amount per mile as provided for state employees pursuant to section 5-141c. Whenever a garnishee is required to appear before any court, such garnishee shall receive the same fees as a witness in a civil action and be paid in the same manner. The clerk of the Superior Court, upon request, shall, on the day of attendance, pay the fee of any witness summoned by the state to appear before the court.

      (b) When any regular or supernumerary police officer or any regular, volunteer or substitute firefighter of any town, city or borough is summoned to testify in any criminal proceeding pending before the Superior Court or the Department of Consumer Protection and the police officer or firefighter receives no compensation from the town, city or borough by which he is employed for the time so spent by him, the police officer or firefighter shall be allowed and paid one hundred dollars, together with the mileage allowed by law to witnesses in criminal cases, for each day he is required to attend the proceedings.

      (c) When any regular or supernumerary police officer or any regular or substitute firefighter is summoned to testify in his capacity as a police officer or firefighter in any court in a civil action and the police officer or firefighter receives no compensation from the municipality by which he is employed for the time he is in attendance at court, there shall be allowed and paid to the police officer or firefighter a witness fee of one hundred dollars, together with the mileage allowed by law to witnesses in criminal cases, for each day he is required to attend court. If the police officer or firefighter testifies in any such proceeding or civil action on a vacation day or compensatory day off, he shall be paid the sum of one hundred dollars, together with the mileage allowed by law, notwithstanding the fact that he is receiving compensation for such day from the town, city or borough by which he is employed.

      (d) The amounts paid under subsections (b) and (c) of this section shall be taxed as a part of the costs, and shall be in lieu of all other witness fees payable to such police officer or firefighter.

      (e) When any person is confined in a community correctional center upon the allegation of the state's attorney that he will be a material witness in a pending criminal proceeding, he shall receive, in addition to his legal fees as a witness, two dollars for each day that he is so confined.

      (f) When any practitioner of the healing arts, as defined in section 20-1, dentist, registered nurse, advanced practice registered nurse or licensed practical nurse, as defined in section 20-87a, psychologist or real estate appraiser gives expert testimony in any action or proceeding, including by means of a deposition, the court shall determine a reasonable fee to be paid to such practitioner of the healing arts, dentist, registered nurse, advanced practice registered nurse, licensed practical nurse, psychologist or real estate appraiser and taxed as part of the costs in lieu of all other witness fees payable to such practitioner of the healing arts, dentist, registered nurse, advanced practice registered nurse, licensed practical nurse, psychologist or real estate appraiser.

      (g) When any public accountant licensed under chapter 389 is subpoenaed by any party, other than the state, to testify in his capacity as a public accountant in any action or proceeding, the court shall determine a reasonable fee to be paid to the public accountant and such fee shall be paid by the party issuing such subpoena.

      (h) The fees of any witness summoned by a party other than the state to testify in any action or proceeding shall be paid to the witness by such party on the day of attendance of such witness.

      (1949 Rev., S. 3611; 1953, S. 1975d; 1957, P.A. 56; February, 1965, P.A. 574, S. 41; 1967, P.A. 273; 889; 1969, P.A. 297; 397; 720; P.A. 73-596; P.A. 74-183, S. 91, 291; P.A. 75-479, S. 3, 25; P.A. 76-436, S. 137, 681; P.A. 77-614, S. 165, 610; P.A. 78-289, S. 3; P.A. 80-190, S. 12; 80-482, S. 4, 170, 191, 339, 345, 348; P.A. 82-160, S. 131; 82-378; P.A. 83-251; P.A. 85-127; P.A. 86-182; P.A. 95-195, S. 82, 83; P.A. 00-45; P.A. 01-32, S. 1; 01-84, S. 4, 26; 01-186, S. 7; June 30 Sp. Sess. P.A. 03-6, S. 146(d); P.A. 04-169, S. 17; 04-189, S. 1; 04-232, S. 1; P.A. 05-45, S. 1; P.A. 10-178, S. 5.)

      History: 1965 act deleted obsolete references to criminal court of common pleas, its criminal jurisdiction having been abolished; 1967 acts provided compensation for policemen testifying in circuit court and added provision re fees paid to physicians or real estate appraisers for expert testimony; 1969 acts substituted "community correctional center" for "jail", referred to practitioners of healing arts and dentists rather than to physicians in provision added in 1967 re fees for expert testimony, authorized compensation for policemen summoned to testify "in any proceeding pending before the juvenile court", specified that policeman receives minimum witness fee if his attendance is required for less than four hours rather than two hours and added provision re fee paid to policeman summoned to testify on his regular day(s) off; P.A. 73-596 clarified applicability of provisions concerning policemen to firemen; P.A. 74-183 substituted court of common pleas for circuit court in provision re fees paid to policemen and firemen, reflecting transfer of circuit court functions to common pleas court, effective December 31, 1974; P.A. 75-479 replaced previous provisions which had based witness payments to policemen and firemen on their salaries and had applied only when they were not compensated for serving as witnesses by the town, city or borough employing them with provisions for payment of set fee of $20 regardless of whether or not employing town, city or borough is also compensating them and imposed same fee for serving as witness on days off where previously compensation for service on such days was a minimum witness fee "equivalent to the payment for eight hours' attendance"; P.A. 76-436 divided section into Subsecs. and removed references to proceedings in court of common pleas or juvenile court, reflecting transfer of all trial jurisdiction to superior court, effective July 1, 1978; P.A. 77-614 replaced liquor control commission with division of liquor control within the department of business regulation in Subsec. (b), effective January 1, 1979; P.A. 78-289 raised witness fee for policemen and firemen from $20 to $40 and deleted former Subsec. (e) which had allowed witnesses summoned under Sec. 54-26 fee of $2 per day and $0.10 per mile for travel to and from court, relettering remaining Subsecs. accordingly; P.A. 80-190 deleted reference to proceedings before coroner in Subsec. (b); P.A. 80-482 made division of liquor control an independent department following abolition of department of business regulation, cancelling provision of the act which would have placed the division within the department of public safety; P.A. 82-160 rephrased the section; P.A. 82-378 amended Subsec. (b) to include witness fees for volunteer firemen; P.A. 83-251 added Subsec. (g) re fees for licensed public accountants; P.A. 85-127 amended Subsec. (f) to authorize payment of witness fees for registered nurse or licensed practical nurse; P.A. 86-182 amended Subsec. (g) to replace "subpoenaed by an adverse party" with "subpoenaed by any party"; P.A. 95-195 substituted Department of Consumer Protection for Department of Liquor Control in Subsec. (b), effective July 1, 1995; P.A. 00-45 amended Subsec. (a) to replace the fee for travel to the place of trial of $0.10 a mile with provision that the fee "shall be the same amount per mile as provided for state employees pursuant to section 5-141c", to delete provision that a witness in a criminal trial shall receive for travel at said rate for one day only and for each day thereafter for travel shall be paid only his actual traveling expenses, not exceeding $0.10 a mile, to delete provision that prohibited fees being allowed to bystanders called as witnesses in criminal trials, and to make a technical change for purposes of gender neutrality; P.A. 01-32 amended Subsec. (f) to replace "is summoned to give expert testimony" with "gives expert testimony", include the giving of expert testimony "by means of a deposition" and make provisions applicable to testimony by an advanced practice registered nurse; P.A. 01-84 amended Subsec. (f) to make technical changes, effective July 1, 2001; P.A. 01-186 amended Subsec. (a) by adding "except as provided in section 54-152" as exception re travel expenses for witnesses summoned by the state or before any legal authority; June 30 Sp. Sess. P.A. 03-6 and P.A. 04-169 replaced Department of Consumer Protection with Department of Agriculture and Consumer Protection, effective July 1, 2004; P.A. 04-189 repealed Sec. 146 of June 30 Sp. Sess. P.A. 03-6, thereby reversing the merger of the Departments of Agriculture and Consumer Protection, effective June 1, 2004; P.A. 04-232 amended Subsecs. (b) and (c) to increase the fees paid to police officers and firefighters from $40 to $100 and amended Subsecs. (b) to (d), inclusive, to make technical changes; P.A. 05-45 amended Subsec. (f) to make provisions applicable to a psychologist who gives expert testimony, effective July 1, 2005; P.A. 10-178 added Subsec. (h) to require fees of witness summoned by a party other than the state to be paid on day of attendance.

      Cited. 219 C. 204.

      Agreement to pay witness more than legal fees will not ordinarily be enforced; exceptional cases considered. 26 CS 463. Statute, as amended, read in conjunction with Sec. 48-12, as amended, entitled property owner to reasonable appraisal fees in condemnation proceedings. 27 CS 288. Cited. 37 CA 865. Legal experts are not included within enumeration of the categories of experts entitled to discretionary award of expert witness fees. 78 CA 760. Sec. 31-51m allows for costs, but does not expressly provide for expert witness fees. Therefore, general cost provisions of Sec. 52-257 and this section apply, which do not mention nontestimonial costs. Accordingly, nontestimonial work performed by plaintiff's economics expert was not taxable as costs. 79 CA 501. Expert witness fees for roofing consulting firms are not enumerated under section and cannot be awarded as part of a claim under the Connecticut Unfair Trade Practices Act. 113 CA 509. Court improperly awarded expert witness fees for construction experts in claim under Connecticut Unfair Trade Practices Act. 121 CA 105.

      Subsec. (f):

      Cited. 188 C. 213. Cited. 236 C. 710. Cited. 239 C. 708. Fee charged by an expert for time spent in preparation for his or her deposition treated as a taxable cost. 286 C. 234. Trial court may not award costs for nontestimonial work performed by expert witness. 289 C. 61.

      Cited. 45 CA 305. Nothing in legislative history indicates that legislature's use of term "costs" in either Sec. 31-51m or 31-51q was intended to authorize court to award prevailing party the cost of an economist. Further, because an economist is not a listed expert witness whose cost may be reimbursed under general provisions of subsection, plaintiff's expert economist's testimonial fees cannot be reimbursed. 79 CA 501. Invoices submitted by defendant for expert witness fees were not sufficient on their own to establish that the costs stated therein were "reasonable". 113 CA 339.