17 October 2022

ST. LOUIS – Students and faculty have been invited to attend the court sessions of the Missouri Court of Appeals, Eastern District, when it holds its Southern Division docket at Notre Dame Regional High School at 9:30 a.m. October 21, 2022. The docket will be held in the high school auditorium, located at 265 Notre Dame Drive in Cape Girardeau. The court sessions are open to the public. The court regularly conducts hearings at various locations, including high schools, throughout the Eastern District.

Two judges from the Court of Appeals will be participating in the Southern Division docket: Judge James M. Dowd and Judge Kelly Broniec. Cole County Associate Circuit Judge Christopher K. Limbaugh, formerly of Cape Girardeau, will be sitting with the court as a special judge. The judges will sit as a panel of three to hear oral argument from attorneys in a case appealed from the Ste. Genevieve County circuit court. 

After the court session, judges are scheduled to participate in a question-and-answer session with audience members and students regarding courts, the role of judges and the judicial system. Chief Judge Michael E. Gardner, a 1997 graduate of Notre Dame Regional High School, is expected to moderate the question-and-answer session with the students.

Gardner was appointed to the Court of Appeals in 2020 after serving as a circuit judge for the 32nd Judicial Circuit for five years and practicing law in Cape Girardeau. Dowd was appointed to the Court of Appeals in 2015 after practicing law in St. Louis. Broniec was appointed to the Court of Appeals in 2020. She previously served as an associate circuit judge in Montgomery County and, from 1999 to 2006, as the Montgomery County prosecuting attorney. Limbaugh was appointed as an associate circuit judge for Cole County in 2021 after serving as general counsel for Governor Michael Parson. He previously served as prosecuting attorney for Cape Girardeau County.

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: Laura Thielmeier Roy, clerk of court

Missouri Court of Appeals, Eastern District

(314) 539-4300