TOPEKA—The Supreme Court Nominating Commission today submitted the names of three persons to Gov. Kathleen Sebelius for appointment to the Kansas Court of Appeals to fill a vacancy on the court created by the appointment of Judge Robert L. Gernon to the Kansas Supreme Court.
Nominees include Wichita attorney Richard D. Greene, Colby attorney H. David Starkey, and Riley County District Judge David L. Stutzman.
The governor on Wednesday appointed Sedgwick County District Judge Thomas Malone to the Court of Appeals to fill a vacancy created by the expansion of the Court from 10 to 11 members.
Starkey and Stutzman were nominated for the vacancy that Malone was appointed to fill and Greene's name was added to the nominations for the vacancy created by Gernon's elevation to the Supreme Court. The governor will have 60 days in which to make the appointment.
Judge Stutzman has been a district court judge since January 24, 1997, when he left the Manhattan law firm of Arthur, Green, Arthur and Condeman following nearly 15 years with that law office. Recently, the judge presided over the case of Kansas State University v. Morris Communications (WIBW) on broadcasting rights to KSU football. The judge entered an order in favor of WIBW's right to continue its solo broadcasts; however, within a week of the judgment, KSU and WIBW announced a complete settlement of all issues in the case, including abandonment of an appeal.
Judge Stutzman obtained a BS degree with merit from the U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, MD, and went on to serve in the Navy as the Repair Division Officer and Damage Control Assistant on the guided missile frigate USS Brooke. Following his discharge from the Navy, Judge Stutzman completed his law degree at the University of Kansas and was graduated fourth in his class in 1982.
Starkey began his legal career in 1975, first as an associate in a one-person firm in Colby, and then as an associate in the firm of Lowe & Willoughby in Colby. He became a partner in January 1976 and has been a continuous member of that firm since then. The firm continues today under the name of Starkey & Gatz, L.L.P.
Starkey served as county attorney from 1977-1979, and still is appointed occasionally as a special prosecutor in state and municipal court. He also has been retained as criminal defense counsel and has accepted appointments for indigents in criminal, juvenile, and child in need of care cases. General civil litigation always has been a significant part of a wide-ranging private law practice.
He was graduated cum laude from Kansas State University in 1969 and from the Washburn University law school in 1974, where he was assistant comments editor of the Washburn Law Journal.
Greene has been in the private practice of law with the Wichita firm of Morris, Laing, Evans, Brock & Kennedy since his graduation from law school from Southern Methodist University School of Law in 1975. Greene received his undergraduate degree from the University of Missouri at Columbia, where he received a BS degree in Business Administration.
During his practice with Morris Laing he has been engaged exclusively in civil litigation in state and federal courts and some administrative agencies. Since 1983, he has been national litigation counsel to the EDO Corporation in New York and has handled major litigation for that corporation throughout the country.
In Kansas, he has concentrated his practice on commercial and oil and gas litigation. In recent years, his practice has been increasingly devoted to litigation of sales and property tax disputes on behalf the owners of major industrial and utility properties.