Panel members and the attorney chairman must be paid set per-diem amounts, with travel expenses covered, and the chairman must file an affidavit for payment. The provision also allocates panel costs among the claimant and the certified public accountant or firm depending on how the panel rules or whether the case settles.
§121. Compensation; payment of costs A. Unless the parties agree otherwise, each certified public accountant member of the public accountant review panel shall be paid at the rate of one hundred dollars per diem, not to exceed a total of one thousand dollars, for all work performed as a member of the panel, exclusive of time involved if called as a witness to testify in a court of law regarding the communications, findings, and conclusions made in the course and scope of his duties as a member of the public accountant review panel, and shall be paid travel expenses in accordance with the current policy of the society for reimbursing travel expenses. B. Unless the parties agree otherwise, the attorney chairman of the public accountant review panel shall be paid at the rate of one hundred dollars per diem, not to exceed a total of two thousand dollars, for all work performed as a member of the panel, exclusive of time involved if called as a witness to testify in a court of law regarding the communications, findings, and conclusions made in the course and scope of his duties as a member of the panel, and shall be paid travel expenses in accordance with the current policy of the society for reimbursing travel expenses. The attorney chairman shall submit the amount due him for all work performed as a member of the panel by affidavit, which shall attest that he has performed in the capacity of chairman of the panel and that he was personally present at all the panel's meetings or deliberations. C. The costs of the panel shall be paid by the claimant if the opinion of the panel is in favor of the defendant certified public accountant or firm. However, if the claimant is unable to pay, the claimant shall swear under oath to the attorney chairman of the panel that the claimant cannot afford the costs of the panel as they accrue, then the costs shall be paid by the certified public accountant or firm, with the proviso that if the claimant subsequently receives a settlement or receives a judgment in relation to the same claim, the advance payment of the costs by the certified public accountant or firm will be offset. D. The defendant certified public accountant or firm shall pay the costs of the panel if the opinion of the panel is in favor of the claimant. E. If the panel decides that there is a material issue of fact bearing on liability for consideration by the court, the certified public accountant or firm shall pay the costs of the panel. F. If a panel decides some claims in favor of the claimant and some claims in favor of the certified public accountant or firm, then the panel shall have the right, authority, and duty to order each party to pay such portion of the costs of the panel as the panel deems appropriate. G. If the claims against a certified public accountant or firm are settled prior to the rendering of an expert opinion by a panel, then the cost of the panel shall be paid fifty percent by the claimant and fifty percent by the certified public accountant or firm. H. Any portion of the deposits made by each party pursuant to R.S. 37:109(C) remaining after the payment of the costs of the panel shall be refunded to each party. Acts 1997, No. 747, §1; Acts 2006, No. 214, §1.