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Employment Rulings in the Eighth Circuit

The Eighth Circuit covers the federal courts in Arkansas, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota. The rulings below come from the circuit's court of appeals and the federal trial courts within it.

Of the 1,462 published rulings we track here (19732026), the breakdowns below show how they were decided. They describe published opinions only — not the odds of any particular situation.

How These Rulings Ended

Of the 1,462 published rulings we track in the Eighth Circuit.

Defendant Win
660 (45%)
Plaintiff Win
255 (17%)
Mixed Result
244 (17%)
Dismissed
176 (12%)
Remanded
100 (7%)
Settlement
27 (2%)

What Happens at Each Stage

A workplace lawsuit moves through stages, and a ruling can end it at any of them. Here is where the 1,452 rulings we could classify by stage were decided.

Appeal
647 (45%)

A higher court reviewing an earlier decision. Many published opinions come from this stage, after a lot has already happened in the case.

Summary judgment
310 (21%)

A ruling where the judge decides the case — or part of it — without a trial, because one side argues the key facts are not in dispute. For workers, getting past this step is often the biggest hurdle.

Of the 310 summary-judgment rulings here, 196 ended the case in the employer’s favor and 114 let the worker’s claims continue.

Motion to dismiss
385 (27%)

An early request — usually by the employer — to throw the case out before any evidence is gathered.

Trial verdict
49 (3%)

A judge or jury heard the evidence and reached a decision. Relatively few disputes get this far.

Settlement / consent decree
26 (2%)

The two sides resolved the dispute by agreement, sometimes with court approval. Most settlements are private and never show up in published opinions.

Default judgment
24 (2%)

A decision entered because one side did not respond to the case at all.

Other rulings
11 (1%)

Procedural decisions and orders that do not fit the main stages above.

States in This Circuit

Browse rulings from courts in each state the Eighth Circuit covers.

Recent Rulings in the Eighth Circuit

National Credit Union Administration Board v. CUMIS Insurance Society, Inc.

Mar 17, 2017D. Minn.Defendant Win

National Labor Relations Board v. Chipotle Services, LLC

Mar 6, 20178th CircuitDefendant Win

Mercier v. United States Department of Labor

Mar 2, 20178th CircuitDefendant Win

Hiland Partners GP Holdings, LLC v. National Union Fire Insurance Co. of Pittsburgh

Jan 31, 20178th CircuitDefendant Win

Barbara Williams v. Employers Mutual Casualty Co.

Jan 12, 20178th CircuitDefendant Win

City of Ozark, AR v. Union Pacific Railroad Co.

Dec 19, 20168th CircuitRemanded

Craig Keefe v. Beth Adams

Oct 26, 20168th CircuitDefendant Win

Finley Hospital v. National Labor Relations Board

Jun 27, 20168th CircuitDefendant Win

The Finley Hospital v. NLRB

Jun 27, 20168th CircuitDefendant Win

Hernandez

Jun 13, 2016D. Minn.Defendant Win

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Grisham Farm Products, Inc.

Jun 8, 2016W.D. Mo.Plaintiff Win

Cellular Sales of Missouri, LLC v. National Labor Relations Board

Jun 2, 20168th CircuitMixed Result

Khadara-Ayan Yousuf v. Fairview Health Services

May 26, 20168th CircuitRemanded

Osthus

Apr 26, 2016D. Minn.Defendant Win

Silgan Containers Corp. v. Sheet Metal Workers International Ass'n, Local Union No. 2

Apr 15, 20168th CircuitMixed Result

International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace & Agricultural Implement Workers of America Local Union 1613 v. Energy Manufacturing Co.

Mar 28, 2016N.D. IowaDefendant Win

MikLin Enterprises, Inc. v. National Labor Relations Board

Mar 25, 20168th CircuitDefendant Win

Securitas Critical Infrastructure Services, Inc. v. National Labor Relations Board

Mar 24, 20168th CircuitDefendant Win

Patrick Doyle v. Trans Union

Mar 23, 20168th CircuitDefendant Win

Keokuk Glycerin, LLC v. Midwest Laboratories, Inc.

Mar 10, 2016S.D. IowaMixed Result

Fedex Freight, Inc. v. National Labor Relations Board

Mar 7, 20168th CircuitDefendant Win

Michael Adams v. American Family Mutual Ins. Co

Feb 24, 20168th CircuitDefendant Win

Busch Properties, Inc. v. National Union Fire Insurance

Feb 24, 20168th CircuitDefendant Win

ConAgra Foods, Inc. v. National Labor Relations Board

Feb 19, 20168th CircuitRemanded

National Labor Relations Board v. Seedorff Masonry, Inc.

Feb 10, 20168th CircuitMixed Result

Parsons Electric, LLC v. National Labor Relations Board

Feb 9, 20168th CircuitRemanded

Bonnie Hasenwinkel v. Mosaic

Dec 29, 20158th CircuitDefendant Win

Veronica R. Grage v. Northern States Power Co. - MN

Dec 28, 20158th CircuitMixed Result

Jiang v. Porter

Dec 28, 2015E.D. Mo.Plaintiff Win

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Cummins Power Generation Inc.

Sep 28, 2015D. Minn.Plaintiff Win

Gillespie v. Charter Communications

Sep 24, 2015E.D. Mo.Mixed Result

Lion Oil Co. v. National Union Fire Insurance

Sep 10, 2015W.D. Ark.Defendant Win

Adams

Aug 21, 2015D.S.D.Defendant Win

Nichols Aluminum, LLC v. National Labor Relations Board

Aug 13, 20158th CircuitDefendant Win

Cynthia Thomas v. Heartland Employment Services

Aug 13, 20158th CircuitRemanded

Ena J. Wages v. Stuart Management Corporation

Aug 10, 20158th CircuitPlaintiff Win

Chavonya Watson v. Heartland Health Laboratories

Jun 25, 20158th CircuitDefendant Win

Greater Omaha Packing Co. v. National Labor Relations Board

Jun 22, 20158th CircuitMixed Result

Khadara-Ayan Yousuf v. Fairview Health Services

Jun 18, 20158th CircuitRemanded

Valspar Corp. v. National Union Fire Insurance Co. of Pittsburgh

May 11, 2015D. Minn.Defendant Win

Plumbers & Steamfitters Local Union No. 33 Retirement Trust v. Rasmussen Mechanical Services, Inc.

Apr 16, 2015S.D. IowaMixed Result

IUOE

Mar 19, 20158th CircuitDefendant Win

John Adams v. Gary Campbell

Mar 2, 20158th CircuitDefendant Win

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. CRST Van Expedited, Inc.

Dec 22, 20148th CircuitSettlement

U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. PMT Corp.

Aug 27, 2014D. Minn.Mixed Result

PSC Custom, LP v. United Steel, Paper & Forestry, Rubber, Manufacturing, Energy, Allied Industrial & Service Workers International Union, Local No. 11-770

Aug 19, 20148th CircuitMixed Result

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Product Fabricators, Inc.

Aug 15, 20148th CircuitDefendant Win

McKinney ex rel. National Labor Relations Board v. Southern Bakeries, LLC

Aug 14, 2014W.D. Ark.Mixed Result

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. New Prime, Inc.

Aug 14, 2014W.D. Mo.Defendant Win

Nyffeler Construction, Inc. v. Secretary of Labor

Jul 28, 20148th CircuitMixed Result

Browse Other Circuits

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These figures summarize publicly available published court opinions only. Published opinions over-represent summary-judgment rulings (decisions made without a trial) and appeals, because those are the stages where judges most often write formal opinions. Most workplace disputes settle privately and never appear here at all. A ruling’s outcome reflects many case-specific factors and is not a prediction for any other situation. Read more about how we source and classify rulings.

Data sourced from public federal court records via CourtListener.com. Case outcomes extracted using AI analysis. This information is for educational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. The classification of outcomes and case stages is based on automated analysis and may not reflect the full scope of each case.