20 October 2021

Revised 29 October 2021 to update judge information

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District, will convene court Wednesday, November 10, 2021, at the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Law. The arguments will begin at 9:30 a.m. at Hulston Hall on campus.

A panel consisting of Judge Alok Ahuja, Judge Thomas Chapman and Judge Mark Pfeiffer will hear oral arguments in three of the cases on the docket. Judge Ann Hansbrough, circuit judge in the 6th Judicial Circuit (Platte County), will join Judges Ahuja and Pfeiffer 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 Ahuja will preside over the proceedings. He 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 of Missouri (Caldwell, Clinton, Daviess, DeKalb and Livingston counties) for more than seven years. Judge Pfeiffer was appointed to the Western District in 2009, and, before his appointment, he practiced law in Springfield and Columbia. He is a 1991 graduate of the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Law. Judge Hansbrough was appointed associate circuit judge in 2014 and was appointed circuit judge in 2021, both in the 6th circuit. She is a graduate of the University of Missouri-Columbia's School of Journalism and School of Law. 

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