United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri

United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri
(W.D. Mo.)
Appeals to Eighth Circuit
Established March 16, 1822
Judges assigned 7
Chief judge Fernando J. Gaitan Jr.
Official site

The United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri (in case citations, W.D. Mo.) is the federal judicial district encompassing 66 counties in the western half of the State of Missouri. The Court is based in the Charles Evans Whittaker Courthouse in Kansas City.

The district is divided into five divisions: Western (Kansas City), Central (Jefferson City), Southern (Springfield), Southwestern (Joplin), and Northern (St. Joseph). There are divisional clerk's Offices in Jefferson City and Springfield in addition to the primary office in Kansas City. New cases and pleadings in the District Court may be filed in the clerk's offices in Kansas City, Jefferson City, and Springfield; Bankruptcy Court filings, however, only are accepted in the Kansas City clerk's office.

The United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit across Missouri in St. Louis has jurisdiction over decisions appealed from the Western District of Missouri (except for patent claims and claims against the U.S. government under the Tucker Act, which are appealed to the Federal Circuit).

Contents

Jurisdiction

Jurisdiction (Counties): Andrew, Atchison, Barry, Barton, Bates, Benton, Boone, Buchanan, Caldwell, Callaway, Camden, Carroll, Cass, Cedar, Christian, Clay, Clinton, Cole, Cooper, Dade, Dallas, Daviess, De Kalb, Douglas, Gentry, Greene, Grundy, Harrison, Henry, Hickory, Holt, Howard, Howell, Jackson, Jasper, Johnson, Laclede, Lafayette, Lawrence, Livingston, McDonald, Mercer, Miller, Moniteau, Morgan, Newton, Nodaway, Oregon, Osage, Ozark, Pettis, Platte, Polk, Pulaski, Putnam, Ray, Saline, St. Clair, Stone, Sullivan, Taney, Texas, Vernon, Webster, Worth, and Wright.

History

Missouri was admitted as a state on August 10, 1821, and the United States Congress established the United States District Court for the District of Missouri on March 16, 1822.[1][2][3] The District was assigned to the Eighth Circuit on March 3, 1837.[1][4] Congress subdivided it into Eastern and Western Districts on March 3, 1857.[1][5] and has since made only small adjustments to the boundaries of that subdivision. The division was prompted by a substantial increase in the number of admiralty cases arising from traffic on the Mississippi River, which had followed an act of Congress passed in 1845 and upheld by the United States Supreme Court in 1851, extendeding federal admiralty jurisdiction to inland waterways.[6] These disputes involved "contracts of affreightment, collisions, mariners' wages, and other causes of admiralty jurisdiction", and litigants of matters arising in St. Louis found it inconvenient to travel to Jefferson City for their cases to be tried.[6]

When the District of Missouri was subdivided, Robert William Wells was the sole judge serving the District of Missouri. Wells was then reassigned to serve only the Western District.[7]

Judges

Main article: List of judges for United States district courts in Missouri

One noted alumnus of this court's bench was Charles Evans Whittaker, who served on the court only briefly before being elevated to the Eighth Circuit, and then to the Supreme Court of the United States.

As of 30 April 2011 (2011 -04-30), when Ortrie Smith took senior status, the judges on the court are:

District judges

Name Appointed Appointed by
Chief Judge Fernando J. Gaitan, Jr. 1991   George H. W. Bush
District Judge Gary A. Fenner 1995   Bill Clinton
Distruct Judge Rodney W. Sippel 1996   Bill Clinton
District Judge Richard E. Dorr 2002   George W. Bush
District Judge David G. Kays 2008   George W. Bush
Vacant seat since 2011
Vacant seat since 2011

Senior District judges

Name Took senior status Appointed by
Senior District Judge Scott O. Wright 1991   Jimmy Carter
Senior District Judge Howard F. Sachs 1992   Jimmy Carter
Senior District Judge Dean Whipple 2007   Ronald Reagan
Senior District Judge Nanette K. Laughrey 2011   Bill Clinton
Senior District Judge Ortrie D. Smith 2011   Bill Clinton

Magistrate judges

Bankruptcy judges

United States Attorneys

Recent, former U.S. attorneys for the district

See also: Dismissal of U.S. attorneys controversy

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c U.S. District Courts of Missouri, Legislative history, Federal Judicial Center.
  2. ^ 3 Stat. 653.
  3. ^ Dickens, Asbury (1852). Synoptical Index to the Laws and Treaties of the United States of America. Boston: Little, Brown and company. pp. 393. http://books.google.com/books?id=qG0DAAAAQAAJ. 
  4. ^ 5 Stat. 176.
  5. ^ 11 Stat. 197.
  6. ^ a b Broadhead, James O. (March 5, 1887). "Address of Col. J. O. Broadhead". In Bar Association of St. Louis. Proceedings of the Saint Louis bar on the retirement of Hon. Samuel Treat. St. Louis: Nixon-Jones printing co.. pp. 10–17. http://books.google.com/books?id=8CAuAAAAYAAJ. 
  7. ^ "Robert William Wells". Biographical Directory of Federal Judges. Federal Judicial Center. http://www.fjc.gov/servlet/tGetInfo?jid=2545. Retrieved 2009-04-16. 

External links