Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District, to Sit at UCM Oct. 11

WARRENSBURG, MO - Becoming a fall tradition at the University of Central Missouri, the Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District, will convene court at UCM on Oct. 11. The oral arguments will be held in the ballroom of the Elliott Student Union on campus beginning at 9 a.m.

A three-judge panel consisting of Judge Janet Sutton, Judge Alok Ahuja, and Judge Mark Pfeiffer will hear oral arguments in four cases. After the oral arguments, the judges will take time to discuss the court system and take general questions from the audience. Judge Sutton will preside over the proceedings in Warrensburg.

Judge 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). Judge Ahuja joined the Western District in 2007. Previously, he practiced law in Washington, D.C. and Kansas City. Judge Pfeiffer was appointed to the Western District in 2009. Before his appointment to the judiciary, he practiced law in Springfield and Columbia.

The court regularly convenes court in Kansas City. For more than 25 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.