17 September 2012
Missouri Court of Appeals to hear arguments at Jefferson College
Students at Jefferson College and interested citizens are invited to attend the court sessions of the Missouri Court of Appeals, Eastern District when it holds a docket at the Jefferson College campus. The dockets will be held in the Fine Arts Building Theatre at 9:30 a.m. on Thursday Sept. 27, 2012. The court sessions are open to the public.
After the court session, judges will participate in a question and answer session about courts and the judicial system with the students and audience.
The Jefferson College docket continues a tradition of the Eastern District of convening court in areas outside of St. Louis, where the court regularly conducts its sessions. “Our court strongly believes in holding oral arguments outside of our courthouse in St. Louis,” Chief Judge Gary M. Gaertner Jr., said. “We hope that students and others who attend the oral arguments will learn about the appellate process and gain a better understanding of our court’s role in the judicial system. It is important that we make our court and its judges accessible to citizens throughout Missouri.”
Three judges from the court of appeals will be participating: Judge Gaertner from St. Louis County, Judge Sherri B. Sullivan from St. Louis, and Judge Robert M. Clayton III from Hannibal. The judges will sit as a panel to hear oral arguments from attorneys in three appeals from the Jefferson County circuit court and the Labor and Industrial Relations Commission.
Judge 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. Judge Sullivan was appointed to the court in 1999. She previously served as a circuit judge, an associate circuit judge, and a prosecutor in the St. Louis Circuit Attorney’s office. Judge Clayton was appointed to the Court of Appeals in 2011. He previously served as Chairman of the Public Service Commission, a Missouri state representative and was also in the private practice of law in Hannibal.
The Missouri Court of Appeals, Eastern District, is the state’s largest appellate court, with offices in the historic old post office building in downtown St. Louis. There are 14 judges on the court, which handles approximately 50 percent of the intermediate appellate caseload in Missouri. The Eastern District has jurisdiction over appeals from trial courts in 25 counties and St. Louis city stretching from the Iowa border to Cape Girardeau. The court regularly hears cases in St. Louis, Hannibal, Cape Girardeau and other locations in the eastern district.
In addition to St. Charles, over the past 10 years the court has held sessions in Palmyra, Canton, Troy, New London, Bowling Green, Farmington, Jackson, St. Charles, Montgomery City, Ste.Genevieve, Shelbyville, Perryville and Hillsboro.
To review a copy of the docket, visit the court’s web site at www.courts.mo.gov, select “Court of Appeals” from the “Know Your Courts” drop down menu, further select “Eastern District” and then “Eastern District Cases Docketed.”
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Contact: Laura Thielmeier Roy
Clerk of Court
Court of Appeals, Eastern District
314-539-4300