March 27, 2024

Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District to convene at Northwest

The Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District, is returning to Northwest Missouri State University, where it is scheduled to convene court Tuesday, April 9. 

The session, which is free and open to the public, is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. in the J.W. Jones Student Union Ballroom.

A three-judge panel, consisting of Presiding Judge Doug Thomson, Alok Ahuja and Supreme Court of Missouri Judge Zel Fischer, will hear oral arguments in two cases on the docket. Summaries of the cases are accessible by clicking this link.

After the oral arguments, the judges will take time to discuss the court system, explain the proceedings and take questions from the audience.

Pictured during their session at Northwest last year, three judges with the Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District, listened to oral arguments. The court will convene at Northwest again on April 9. (Photo by Lauren Adams/Northwest Missouri State University)

Thomson joined the Western District in 2020. Previously, he served as an associate circuit judge for Nodaway County in the Fourth Judicial Circuit for more than five years.

Ahuja was appointed to the Western District in 2007. Previously, he practiced law in Washington, D.C., and Kansas City.

Fischer was appointed to the Supreme Court of Missouri in 2008. He served as an associate circuit judge in Atchison County in the Fourth Judicial Circuit and practiced law in Atchison, Holt, Nodaway and Platte counties prior to his appointment to the Supreme Court. 

The court, which has convened regularly at Northwest since 2010, typically convenes court in Kansas City. For more than 25 years, the court has held dockets in several of the 45 counties in its jurisdiction, which includes all of northwest Missouri and most of central Missouri. The court hears oral arguments outside Kansas City to give individuals an opportunity to observe a part of the judicial system they normally do not see and to familiarize attendants with the court’s role in the judicial system.