At its annual fall meeting today, the Ohio Courts of Appeals Judges Association elected officers for next year.

Judges elected to leadership positions in the association include:

• Twelfth District Court of Appeals Judge Stephen W. Powell as chief justice of the association.
• Tenth District Court of Appeals Judge G. Gary Tyack as chief justice-elect.
• Fifth District Court of Appeals Judge John W. Wise as secretary/treasurer.

The officers will assume their leadership posts on Jan. 1, 2013.

The association consists of 69 appeals court judges who serve on Ohio’s 12 appellate courts. As intermediate level appellate courts, their primary function is to hear appeals from the common pleas, municipal and county courts. Each case is heard and decided by a three-judge panel.

In addition to their appellate jurisdiction, the courts of appeals have original jurisdiction to hear applications for writs of habeas corpus, mandamus, procedendo, prohibition and quo warranto. The Tenth District Court of Appeals in Franklin County also hears appeals from the Ohio Court of Claims. Appellate judges also sit by assignment on the Supreme Court in case of a recusal by a sitting justice.