22 February 2023

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District, expects to convene court next month in Columbia, Missouri, at the Boone County Courthouse and at the University of Missouri School of Law. The arguments at the Boone County Courthouse are scheduled to begin at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 15, 2023. The arguments at the University of Missouri School of Law are scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. Thursday, March 16, 2023, in Hulston Hall on campus.

Chief Judge Gary Witt, Judge Alok Ahuja and Judge Janet Sutton are scheduled to hear oral arguments in four cases on each of the dockets. After the dockets, the judges will take time to discuss the court system, explain the proceedings, and take questions from the audience.

Witt is expected to preside over the proceedings at the Boone County Courthouse and at the University of Missouri-Columbia. Witt was appointed to the Western District in 2010. Immediately prior to his appointment, he served as an associate circuit judge in the 6th Judicial Circuit (Platte County). Previously, he practiced law in Platte County and served in the Missouri House of Representatives. Ahuja joined the Western District in 2007. Previously, he practiced law in Washington D.C. and Kansas City. Sutton was appointed to the Western District in 2021. Prior to that, she served as a municipal judge for the city of Excelsior Springs and as an associate circuit judge and a circuit judge in the 7th Judicial Circuit (Clay County).

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 of 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.

Attachments: summaries of cases scheduled for argument March 15, 2023, at Boone County Courthouse; 

summaries of cases scheduled for argument March 16, 2023, at MU Law School

Contact: Kimberly K. Boeding, clerk of court

Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District

(816) 889-3600