19 October 2021

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District, will convene court Tuesday, November 9, 2021, at Westminster College in Fulton. The arguments will take place beginning at 1:30 p.m. at Champ Auditorium on campus. 

A panel consisting of Judge Mark Pfeiffer, Judge Alok Ahuja and Judge Thomas Chapman will hear oral arguments in three of the cases on the docket. Judge Jeff Harris, circuit judge in the 13th Judicial Circuit (Boone and Callaway counties), will join Judge Pfeiffer and Judge Ahuja and sit as a special judge to hear oral arguments in the remaining case on the docket. After the oral arguments, the judges will take time to discuss the court system, explain the proceedings and take questions from the audience.

Judge Pfeiffer will preside over the proceedings at Westminster. He was appointed to the Western District in 2009. Before his appointment to the judiciary, he practiced law in Springfield and Columbia. He is a 1989 graduate of Westminster College. Judge Ahuja was appointed to the Western District in 2007. Previously, he practiced law in Washington, D.C., and Kansas City. Judge Chapman was appointed to the court in 2018. Immediately prior to his appointment, he served as a circuit judge in the 43rd Judicial Circuit (Caldwell, Clinton, Daviess, DeKalb and Livingston counties) for more than seven years. Judge Chapman is a 1988 graduate of Westminster College. Judge Harris has served as a circuit judge in the 13th circuit since April 2016.

The court typically convenes court in Kansas City. For more than 20 years, however, the court has held dockets in several of the 45 counties in the court’s jurisdiction, which includes all of northwest Missouri and most of central Missouri. The court hears oral arguments outside Kansas City to give individuals an opportunity to observe a part of the judicial system they normally do not see and to familiarize those attending with the court's role in the judicial system.

Attachment: summaries of cases to be argued

Contact: Kimberly K. Boeding, clerk of court

Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District

(816) 889-3600