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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

Lopez ex rel. Estate of Rivas Parada v. United States Immigration & Customs Enforcement

Dec 21, 20115th CircuitDefendant Win

Schroeder

Dec 19, 20115th CircuitRemanded

Adamcik

Dec 19, 2011W.D. Tex.Plaintiff Win

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Resources for Human Development, Inc.

Dec 7, 2011E.D. La.Plaintiff Win

Napier

Dec 1, 2011N.D. Tex.Remanded

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Alliance Residential Co.

Nov 18, 2011W.D. Tex.Plaintiff Win

R. Faulk, III v. Union Pacific Railroad Com

Nov 3, 20115th CircuitRemanded

Steve Doyle, III v. Union Pacific Railroad Company

Oct 3, 20115th CircuitDefendant Win

Oaktree Capital Management, L.P. v. National Labor Relations Board

Sep 26, 20115th CircuitDefendant Win

Paper, Allied-Industrial Chemical & Energy Workers International Union, Local 4-12 v. Exxon Mobil Corp.

Sep 19, 20115th CircuitDefendant Win

PHI, Inc. v. Office & Professional Employees International Union

Sep 12, 20115th CircuitDefendant Win

PHI, Inc. v. Office & Professional Employees International Union

Sep 12, 20115th CircuitDefendant Win

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Hi-Line Electric Co.

Aug 18, 2011N.D. Tex.Mixed Result

Blanks

Aug 17, 2011N.D. Tex.Defendant Win

AMERISTAR AIRWAYS, INC. v. US Dept. of Labor

Aug 11, 20115th CircuitPlaintiff Win

National Labor Relations Board v. PDK Investments, L.L.C.

Jul 21, 20115th CircuitPlaintiff Win

Carleen Black v. Pan American Laboratories

Jul 12, 20115th CircuitPlaintiff Win

Carleen Black v. Pan American Laboratories

Jul 11, 20115th CircuitPlaintiff Win

IBT

Jun 8, 20115th CircuitDefendant Win

Greg Porter v. Guadalupe Valdez

May 11, 20115th CircuitMixed Result

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Hi-Line Electric Co.

May 9, 2011N.D. Tex.Mixed Result

Steven Rutherford v. Employment Standard Admin, et

May 3, 20115th CircuitDefendant Win

Horn v. Owens-Illinois Employee Benefits Committee

May 2, 20115th CircuitDefendant Win

Metoyer

Apr 18, 2011W.D. La.Defendant Win

Jones v. Cingular Wireless Employee Services, L.L.C.

Apr 12, 20115th CircuitDefendant Win

John Galada v. George Payne, Jr.

Apr 11, 20115th CircuitDefendant Win

Nelson v. National Labor Relations Board

Apr 5, 20115th CircuitDefendant Win

Isreal

Mar 28, 2011W.D. La.Defendant Win

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Service Temps, Inc.

Mar 23, 2011N.D. Tex.Mixed Result

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Philip Services Corp.

Mar 4, 20115th CircuitDefendant Win

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Boh Bros. Construction Co.

Feb 28, 2011E.D. La.Mixed Result

Adam Davis v. SVC Manufacturing, Inc.

Jan 11, 20115th CircuitDefendant Win

Union Pump Co. v. Centrifugal Technology, Inc., et

Dec 17, 20105th CircuitPlaintiff Win

Great Southern Oil & Gas Co. v. Director, Office of Worker's Compensation Programs, U.S. Department of Labor

Nov 17, 20105th CircuitDefendant Win

Udoewa

Nov 15, 2010S.D. Tex.Defendant Win

United Steel Workers International Union v. Asarco Inc. (In Re Asarco L.L.C.)

Nov 12, 20105th CircuitDismissed

Guadalupe Esparza v. Rick Thaler, Director

Nov 9, 20105th CircuitDefendant Win

Comb

Oct 15, 2010S.D. Tex.Dismissed

King

Oct 8, 2010W.D. Tex.Settlement

James Farris v. Union Pacific Railroad Co.

Sep 28, 20105th CircuitDefendant Win

Dean

Sep 15, 2010S.D. Miss.Mixed Result

Dupre v. Employee Benefit Services of Louisiana, Inc.

Sep 2, 20105th CircuitDefendant Win

U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. IESI Louisiana Corp.

Aug 27, 2010W.D. La.Mixed Result

National Union Fire Insurance v. Puget Plastics Corp.

Aug 25, 2010S.D. Tex.Defendant Win

Tomdra Investments, LLC v. CoStar Realty Information, Inc.

Aug 24, 2010N.D. Tex.Defendant Win

Guadalupe Munoz v. Eric Holder, Jr.

Aug 12, 20105th CircuitDismissed

Bonilla

Jul 29, 20105th CircuitRemanded

Quirino Estrada v. Eric Holder, Jr.

Jul 22, 20105th CircuitDefendant Win

CareFlite

Jul 13, 20105th CircuitMixed Result

Crowley

Jul 2, 2010S.D. Miss.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.