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Employment Rulings in the Fifth Circuit

The Fifth Circuit covers the federal courts in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas. The rulings below come from the circuit's court of appeals and the federal trial courts within it.

Of the 1,704 published rulings we track here (19702026), 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 1,704 published rulings we track in the Fifth Circuit.

Defendant Win
726 (43%)
Dismissed
285 (17%)
Mixed Result
263 (15%)
Plaintiff Win
208 (12%)
Remanded
173 (10%)
Settlement
49 (3%)

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 1,689 rulings we could classify by stage were decided.

Appeal
766 (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
297 (18%)

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 297 summary-judgment rulings here, 188 ended the case in the employer’s favor and 108 let the worker’s claims continue; the rest resolved in other ways.

Motion to dismiss
505 (30%)

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

Trial verdict
40 (2%)

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

Settlement / consent decree
42 (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
15 (1%)

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

Other rulings
24 (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 Fifth Circuit covers.

Recent Rulings in the Fifth Circuit

Houk

Oct 20, 2025W.D. Tex.Dismissed

Rodriguez

Oct 16, 2025S.D. Tex.Dismissed

Punger

Oct 15, 2025S.D. Tex.Mixed Result

Nexstar Media v. NLRB

Oct 15, 20255th CircuitDefendant Win

Nexstar Media Group v. NLRB

Oct 15, 20255th CircuitDefendant Win

Hamm

Oct 14, 2025E.D. La.Dismissed

Aunt Bertha v. NLRB

Oct 14, 20255th CircuitDefendant Win

Sixela Investment Group v. Hope Federal Credit Union

Oct 8, 2025W.D. La.Defendant Win

Rezene

Oct 8, 2025E.D. Tex.Defendant Win

Perkins

Oct 8, 2025M.D. La.Dismissed

Yu

Oct 6, 2025E.D. Tex.Defendant Win

Paldo

Oct 3, 2025S.D. Tex.Defendant Win

Moore

Oct 3, 2025W.D. La.Defendant Win

Grant

Oct 2, 2025N.D. Tex.Mixed Result

Asante-Chioke

Oct 2, 2025E.D. La.Dismissed

McDonald

Sep 30, 2025W.D. La.Dismissed

Barinaga

Sep 30, 2025S.D. Tex.Plaintiff Win

Borchgrevink

Sep 30, 2025S.D. Tex.Dismissed

Gray

Sep 30, 2025S.D. Tex.Mixed Result

Mealey

Sep 30, 2025M.D. La.Mixed Result

Bittan

Sep 29, 2025N.D. Tex.Dismissed

Malone

Sep 29, 2025W.D. La.Defendant Win

Lenz

Sep 29, 2025E.D. La.Defendant Win

Metwalli

Sep 25, 2025N.D. Tex.Mixed Result

Kuriger

Sep 25, 2025N.D. Tex.Defendant Win

Sep 24, 2025W.D. Tex.Defendant Win

Carroll

Sep 22, 2025N.D. Tex.Settlement

Jones

Sep 15, 2025S.D. Tex.Plaintiff Win

Sanders

Sep 15, 2025W.D. Tex.Dismissed

Pete

Sep 15, 2025E.D. Tex.Defendant Win

Fye

Sep 15, 2025S.D. Tex.Dismissed

Cavallero

Sep 15, 2025S.D. Miss.Dismissed

Robinson

Sep 12, 2025S.D. Tex.Defendant Win

Brown

Sep 12, 2025W.D. La.Dismissed

Springs

Sep 7, 2025E.D. Tex.Plaintiff Win

Apac

Sep 5, 2025W.D. Tex.Defendant Win

Hinojosa

Sep 3, 2025W.D. Tex.Dismissed

Jefferson

Sep 3, 2025N.D. Tex.Dismissed

Archangel

Aug 29, 2025S.D. Tex.Plaintiff Win

Frymier

Aug 29, 2025S.D. Tex.Settlement

Gazani

Aug 29, 2025S.D. Tex.Settlement

Thompson

Aug 28, 2025S.D. Miss.Plaintiff Win

Amazon.com

Aug 28, 20255th CircuitDefendant Win

Citizens Defending Freedom v. Arlington Independent School District

Aug 27, 2025N.D. Tex.Defendant Win

Braswell

Aug 27, 2025S.D. Miss.Settlement

Cook

Aug 21, 2025E.D. Tex.Defendant Win

Lane

Aug 21, 2025E.D. La.Dismissed

Kent

Aug 19, 2025M.D. La.Dismissed

Smith v. 1st Abundant Home Care L L C

Aug 18, 2025W.D. La.Defendant Win

Garza

Aug 15, 2025S.D. Tex.Defendant Win

Browse Other Circuits

Explore employment rulings from the other federal 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.