23 October 2024

ST. LOUIS – Students and interested citizens are invited to attend the court sessions of the Missouri Court of Appeals, Eastern District, when it holds its Southern Division docket at 10 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, October 29, 2024, at Southeast Missouri State University in Cape Girardeau. The docket will be held in the Academic Hall Auditorium, and the court sessions are open to the public. The court has held dockets at Southeast Missouri State University on eight prior occasions.

“The Eastern District appeals court is very pleased to conduct a case docket at Southeast Missouri State University, extending the court’s accessibility to the citizens of southeastern Missouri and hopefully expanding the understanding of the court system, the appellate process, and the rule of law,” Chief Judge Thomas C. Clark II said.

Four judges from the Court of Appeals are expected to participate: Chief Judge Thomas C. Clark II, Judge Gary M. Gaertner Jr., Judge Lisa P. Page, and Judge Michael E. Gardner. The judges will sit in panels of three to hear oral arguments from attorneys involved in two cases appealed from the Cape Girardeau County circuit court. After the court session, judges will participate in a question-and-answer session with audience members and students regarding courts, the role of judges and the judicial system. 

Clark was appointed to the court of appeals in 2021 after serving as a circuit judge, an associate circuit judge and an assistant circuit attorney in the city of St. Louis. Gaertner was appointed to the court of appeals in 2009. He previously served as a circuit judge, a federal prosecutor for the United States attorney’s office and a state prosecutor. Page, a 1988 magna cum laude graduate of Southeast Missouri State University, was appointed in 2015 after serving as a circuit judge, a family court commissioner and a municipal judge. Most recently, Southeast Missouri State University honored Judge Page as a 2023 Alumni Merit Award recipient. Gardner was appointed to the court of appeals in 2020 after serving as a circuit judge for the 32nd Judicial Circuit for six years and practicing law in private practice in Cape Girardeau.

The Missouri Court of Appeals, Eastern District, is the state’s largest appellate court, with offices in the historic Old Post Office in downtown St. Louis. The court regularly hears cases in St. Louis, Hannibal, Cape Girardeau and other locations in the Eastern District.

Contact: Morgan A. Coleman, clerk of the court

Missouri Court of Appeals, Eastern District

(314) 539-4300