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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

Amos

Dec 4, 1998N.D. Tex.Defendant Win

Zamora-Quezada

Nov 30, 1998W.D. Tex.Mixed Result

Housden

Sep 27, 1998E.D. Tex.Defendant Win

Harriman G. RADFORD, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. GENERAL DYNAMICS CORPORATION, Et Al., Defendants-Appellees

Sep 21, 19985th CircuitDefendant Win

HUBBARD BY HUBBARD v. Buffalo Indep. Sch. Dist.

Sep 1, 1998W.D. Tex.Defendant Win

Conger

Aug 18, 1998N.D. Tex.Defendant Win

Barnett

Aug 3, 1998N.D. Tex.Mixed Result

EEOC v. Wal-Mart Stores Inc

Jul 30, 19985th CircuitDefendant Win

NLRB v. Thermon Heat Tracing

Jun 24, 19985th CircuitPlaintiff Win

Doe

Jun 11, 1998N.D. Tex.Defendant Win

Scott FALLO; Kasey Fallo, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. PICCADILLY CAFETERIAS, INC., Defendant-Appellee

May 29, 19985th CircuitPlaintiff Win

Miller v. Rowan Companies, Inc.

May 29, 1998S.D. Miss.Defendant Win

Doe

May 8, 1998E.D. Tex.Mixed Result

Hanna

Apr 24, 1998E.D. Tex.Mixed Result

Sorensen

Apr 13, 1998E.D. Tex.Defendant Win

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Exxon Corp.

Apr 10, 1998N.D. Tex.Mixed Result

Esquivel

Mar 30, 1998N.D. Tex.Remanded

Thibodeaux

Jan 15, 1998E.D. Tex.Mixed Result

Muggivan

Jan 12, 19985th CircuitDefendant Win

Abraham

Dec 19, 1997N.D. Tex.Defendant Win

Dancy

Dec 16, 1997E.D. Tex.Defendant Win

EEOC v. Pat O'Brien's Bar

Nov 21, 19975th CircuitDefendant Win

USPS

Nov 18, 19975th CircuitDefendant Win

NLRB v. Hi-Tech Cable Corp

Nov 14, 19975th CircuitMixed Result

NLRB v. Houston Building

Nov 10, 19975th CircuitDefendant Win

NLRB v. Houston Building

Oct 1, 19975th CircuitDefendant Win

Selby

Sep 17, 1997N.D. Tex.Defendant Win

UA

Jul 16, 19975th CircuitDefendant Win

Selkirk Metalbestos, North America, Eljer Manufacturing, Inc. v. National Labor Relations Board

Jul 7, 19975th CircuitDefendant Win

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Exxon Corp.

Jul 1, 1997N.D. Tex.Mixed Result

Trencor, Inc v. NLRB

Jun 2, 19975th CircuitRemanded

EEOC v. Hearst Corporation

Jun 2, 19975th CircuitDefendant Win

Robinson

May 22, 1997E.D. Tex.Defendant Win

Lofton

May 15, 1997N.D. Tex.Defendant Win

Steele

Apr 15, 1997N.D. Tex.Defendant Win

Upshaw

Apr 14, 1997N.D. Tex.Defendant Win

Roark

Apr 9, 1997N.D. Tex.Mixed Result

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. R.J. Gallagher Co.

Apr 4, 1997S.D. Tex.Defendant Win

CJC Holdings, Inc v. NLRB

Mar 21, 19975th CircuitDefendant Win

Cjc Holdings, Inc. v. NLRB

Mar 11, 19975th CircuitDefendant Win

FIRST NATIONAL BANK IN DURANT v. Lane & Douglass

Jan 27, 1997N.D. Tex.Defendant Win

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Hearst Corporation, Doing Business as the Houston Chronicle Publishing Company

Jan 22, 19975th CircuitDefendant Win

NLRB v. E-Systems, Inc

Jan 16, 19975th CircuitDefendant Win

Smith v. Texaco, Inc.

Jan 2, 1997E.D. Tex.Plaintiff Win

NLRB v. Unitog Rental

Dec 17, 19965th CircuitPlaintiff Win

NLRB v. Unitog Rental

Dec 9, 19965th CircuitDefendant Win

Hughes Christenson v. NLRB

Nov 20, 19965th CircuitDefendant Win

Dolores M. OUBRE, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. ENTERGY OPERATIONS, INC., Defendant-Appellee

Nov 6, 19965th CircuitDefendant Win

Fuller

Oct 18, 1996E.D. Tex.Remanded

Manley

Oct 16, 1996S.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.