STATE APPEALS COURT FOR EASTERN DISTRICT SLATED TO MEET IN CAPE

The Missouri Court of Appeals for the Eastern District is scheduled to hear arguments in 15 cases when it meets today in Cape Girardeau.

Eight appellate court judges, including Chief Judge Mary Rhodes Russell, will handle court matters. The judges will meet in Southeast Missouri State University's Glenn Auditorium.

This will mark the first time the court has convened on the Southeast campus.

Russell wanted to hold the meeting at Southeast so college students could see how the court operates.

Three cases will be held during both the 9 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. session. Nine cases are on tap for the 1 p.m. session. The hearings are open to the public.

Cases to be heard during the opening session include a civil suit concerning a property dispute in Ste. Genevieve County, a custody case and a civil case involving a dispute between a nurse practitioner and Washington County Memorial Hospital over a non-compete clause in an employment contract.

The 10:30 a.m. session includes a child-support dispute, a child visitation case and a legal malpractice dispute.

Cases to be heard on the 1 p.m. docket include a child custody dispute and eight drunk-driving cases.

The court regularly meets in St. Louis but meets from time to time in other places.

Dr. Brian Smentkowski, assistant professor of political science at Southeast, helped arrange for the court to meet on campus.

Smentkowski advises pre-law students at Southeast and said today's meeting of the court will give students and the public an opportunity to see how an appellate court operates.

Those in attendance will hear attorneys argue their cases based on written briefs previously filed with the court.

Each case will be heard by a three-judge panel. Each side gets 10 minutes to present oral arguments. The appellant then has two minutes for rebuttal.

Some scheduled cases are settled at the last minute, eliminating the need for oral arguments."We are kind of like the airlines," said senior Judge Stanley Grimm. "We overbook a little bit thinking some will go away." Grimm, from Cape Girardeau, served 11 years on the court before retiring on July 31, 1998.

Grimm still does some work for the appellate court. He holds settlement conferences in an effort to get the two sides in a case to reach agreement."People can save clients money and also save the court the expense of having to hear oral arguments," Grimm said.

The appellate court has 14 judges. Although only three judges typically hear any one case, their decision is circulated among the other judges.

The court, on average, hands down its ruling within 60 days after hearing oral arguments, Grimm said.

Judges read the written briefs from the lawyers before holding oral arguments."The court doesn't walk onto the bench with a completely empty mind," he said.

Cape Girardeau is the southernmost county in the appellate court's Eastern District, which extends as far north as the Iowa line.

The appellate court has been holding court twice a year in Cape Girardeau for about 15 years, but those cases have been held in a courtroom in the Cape Girardeau Common Pleas Courthouse where there is little room for spectators.

Grimm said holding court at Southeast will allow the public a better look at the appellate system. "We think it is a great idea," he said.