20 October 2025

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. Wednesday, October 29, 2025, 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 nine prior occasions.

“The Missouri Court of Appeals, Eastern District, is very pleased to conduct a 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 John P. Torbitzky said.

Four judges from the Court of Appeals will be participating: Torbitzky, Judge Philip M. Hess, Judge Lisa P. Page, and Judge Michael E. Gardner. The judges will sit in panels of three to hear oral arguments in two appeals from the St. Francois County and Cape Girardeau County circuit courts. 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. 

Torbitzky was appointed to the court of appeals in 2021 after engaging in the private practice of law in St. Louis. Hess was appointed to the court of appeals in 2013 after engaging in the private practice of law in St. Louis. Page, a 1988 magna cum laude graduate of Southeast Missouri State University and an Alumni Merit Award recipient, was appointed in 2015 after serving as a circuit judge, a family court commissioner, and a municipal judge in Jefferson County. Gardner was appointed to the court of appeals in 2020 after serving as a circuit judge for the 32nd Judicial Circuit (Bollinger, Cape Girardeau and Perry counties) for six years and engaging in the private practice of law 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 Coleman, clerk of the court

Missouri Court of Appeals, Eastern District

(314) 539-4300