9 January 2013

Students and interested citizens are invited to attend the court session of the Missouri Court of Appeals, Eastern District, when it holds its northern division docket at Hannibal-LaGrange University, 2800 Palmyra Road, Hannibal, on Jan. 15, 2013, at 1 p.m. and 1:30 p.m.  The court will convene in Parker Theatre at the Roland Fine Arts Center. The court session is open to the public.

After the court session, the judges will participate in a question and answer session about the courts, the judicial system and the role of judges with the audience.

Chief Judge Gary Gaertner said, “We are honored to hold a court session for the second time at Hannibal-LaGrange University.  The Court first heard arguments at the university in November 2008.  Originally the court of appeals started traveling to northeast Missouri in 1981 at the urging of Judge James Reinhard as a convenience to area attorneys and litigants.  We have conducted court sessions at various locations in northeastern Missouri every year since.”

Five judges from the Court of Appeals will be participating: Chief Judge Gary M. Gaertner Jr., of St. Louis, Judge Clifford H. Ahrens of Hannibal, Judge Glenn Norton of Ellisville and formerly from Ralls County, Judge Roy L. Richter of Montgomery City, and Judge Robert Clayton III, of Hannibal.  The judges will sit in panels of three to hear oral arguments from attorneys involved in cases appealed from the Audrain County circuit court, the St. Louis city circuit court and the labor and industrial relations commission.

The Missouri Court of Appeals, Eastern District, is the state’s largest appellate court, with offices in the old post office in downtown St. Louis. There are 14 judges on the court, which handles approximately 50 percent of the intermediate appellate caseload in Missouri.  The court regularly hears cases in St. Louis, Hannibal, Cape Girardeau and other locations in the eastern district.

Contact: Laura Thielmeier Roy
Clerk of Court
Court of Appeals, Eastern District
314-539-4300