15 October 2015
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 Southeast Missouri State University, Cape Girardeau, Missouri on October 21, 2015 at 9:30 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. The dockets will be held in the Glenn Auditorium located in Dempster Hall, and the court sessions are open to the public. The Court has held dockets at Southeast Missouri State University on five prior occasions.
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. We are pleased to be able to hold another docket at the University to allow students to see first-hand an appellate court in action,” said the court's Chief Judge Lisa Van Amburg. " As the Court of Appeals for the many counties that make up the Eastern District of Missouri, we hold Court in the northern and southern portions of our district, and do not restrict ourselves to hearing cases only in the main Courthouse in St. Louis.”
Four judges from the Court of Appeals will be participating: Chief Judge Van Amburg, Judge Gary M. Gaertner Jr., Judge Philip M. Hess and Judge James M. Dowd. The judges will sit in panels of three to hear oral arguments from attorneys involved in cases appealed from trial courts in Cape Girardeau and St. Francois counties.
Judge Van Amburg was appointed to the Court in 2012, after serving as a Circuit Judge for the 22nd Judicial Circuit. She previously practiced law at Van Amburg, Chackes, Carlson and Spritzer and Schuchat, Cook and Werner. Judge Gaertner was appointed to the Court of Appeals in 2009. He previously served as a Circuit Judge, a federal prosecutor for the U.S. Attorney’s Office and a state prosecutor. Judge Hess was appointed to the Court of Appeals in 2013. Previously, he practiced law in St. Louis in private practice. Judge Dowd, the Court’s newest judge, was appointed in June of 2015 after practicing law in St. Louis at The James M. Dowd Law Firm, Dowd & Dowd, and Watson & Dameron.
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. There are fourteen judges on the court, which handles approximately fifty 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.
The Southern Division-Cape Girardeau October dockets for October 21 may be viewed online - here are cases scheduled for 9:30 a.m. and cases scheduled for 10:30 a.m.
See note to news media on separate page
Contact: Laura Thielmeier Roy
Clerk, Missouri Court of Appeals Eastern District
One Post Office Square
815 Olive Street
St. Louis, Missouri 63101
314-539-4300
NOTE TO NEWS MEDIA
The media is invited to attend the court session.
Pursuant to Supreme Court Rule 16, all requests to use photographic equipment, television cameras, or electronic sound recording equipment in the courtroom while court is in session must be made to the Chief Judge, the Honorable Roy Richter, 314-539-4336, at least five days prior to the scheduled proceeding.