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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 730 published rulings we track here (1970–2026), 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 730 published rulings we track in the Fifth Circuit.

Defendant Win
397 (54%)
Plaintiff Win
117 (16%)
Dismissed
75 (10%)
Mixed Result
74 (10%)
Remanded
55 (8%)
Settlement
12 (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 728 rulings we could classify by stage were decided.

Appeal
336 (46%)

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
182 (25%)

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 182 summary-judgment rulings here, 140 ended the case in the employer’s favor and 42 let the worker’s claims continue.

Motion to dismiss
159 (22%)

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

Trial verdict
25 (3%)

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

Settlement / consent decree
12 (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
8 (1%)

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

Other rulings
6 (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

Vada De Jongh v. State Farm Lloyds, Inc.

Nov 30, 20165th CircuitDefendant Win

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Methodist Hospitals of Dallas

Nov 4, 2016N.D. Tex.Defendant Win

Employers Resource v. National Labor Relations Board

Nov 1, 20165th CircuitDefendant Win

EEOC v. Vicksburg Healthcare, L.L.C.

Oct 14, 20165th CircuitPlaintiff Win

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Vicksburg Healthcare, L.L.C.

Oct 12, 20165th CircuitPlaintiff Win

Dresser-Rand Co. v. National Labor Relations Board

Sep 23, 20165th CircuitMixed Result

Katch Kan USA, L.L.C. v. National Labor Relations Board

Aug 30, 20165th CircuitDefendant Win

Citi Trends, Inc. v. National Labor Relations Board

Aug 10, 20165th CircuitDefendant Win

Sanderson Farms, Inc. v. National Labor Relations Board

Jun 7, 20165th CircuitDefendant Win

MacY's, Inc. v. National Labor Relations Board

Jun 2, 20165th CircuitDefendant Win

DirecTV Holdings, L.L.C. v. National Labor Relations Board

May 31, 20165th CircuitDefendant Win

Reymond Meadaa v. K A P Enterprises, L.L.C.

May 18, 20165th CircuitPlaintiff Win

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Rite Way Service, Inc.

Apr 8, 20165th CircuitMixed Result

Idom

Apr 6, 2016S.D. Miss.Plaintiff Win

Hallmark-Phoenix 3, LLC v. National Labor Relations Board

Mar 24, 20165th CircuitMixed Result

Dixie Electric Membership Corp. v. National Labor Relations Board

Feb 25, 20165th CircuitDefendant Win

Chesapeake Energy Corp. v. National Labor Relations Board

Feb 12, 20165th CircuitMixed Result

Practice

Nov 30, 20155th CircuitDefendant Win

Tyrikia Porter v. Houma Terrebonne Hsng Auth

Nov 25, 20155th CircuitRemanded

Murphy Oil USA, Inc. v. National Labor Relations Board

Oct 26, 20155th CircuitDefendant Win

Arredondo

Jul 27, 2015S.D. Tex.Mixed Result

Maria Tejada v. Travis Assn for the Blind

Jul 13, 20155th CircuitDefendant Win

Santinac

Jun 2, 2015S.D. Miss.Mixed Result

Howroyd-Wright

May 14, 20155th CircuitDefendant Win

McKinney Ex Rel. National Labor Relations Board v. Creative Vision Resources, L.L.C.

Apr 13, 20155th CircuitDefendant Win

Aker Kvaerner IHI v. National Union Fire Ins Co.

Apr 10, 20155th CircuitRemanded

Dongsheng Huang v. Administrative Review Board, United States Department of Labor

Aug 12, 20145th CircuitDefendant Win

Mississippi v. National Labor Relations Board

Aug 1, 20145th CircuitRemanded

Dresser-Rand Co. v. National Labor Relations Board

Jul 23, 20145th CircuitRemanded

Estrada v. San Antonio Independent School District

Jul 23, 20145th CircuitDefendant Win

O'Quinn P.C. v. National Union Fire Insurance

Jul 17, 2014S.D. Tex.Defendant Win

Why Nada Cruz, L.L.C. v. ACE American Insurance

Jun 3, 20145th CircuitDefendant Win

Tracy Mitchell v. Union Tank Car, L.L.C.

May 27, 20145th CircuitDefendant Win

Griffin v. Kennard Independent School District

May 13, 20145th CircuitDefendant Win

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Exxon Mobil Corp.

Mar 25, 20145th CircuitDefendant Win

Vada De Jongh v. State Farm Lloyds

Feb 20, 20145th CircuitRemanded

Villanueva v. United States Department of Labor

Feb 12, 20145th CircuitDefendant Win

ConocoPhillips, Inc. v. Local 13-0555 United Steelworkers International Union

Jan 31, 20145th CircuitDefendant Win

Antonius Heijnen v. Guadalupe Villarreal

Jan 31, 20145th CircuitDismissed

D.R. Horton, Incorporated v. NLRB

Jan 20, 20145th CircuitDefendant Win

George Wall v. Alcon Laboratories, Inc.

Jan 20, 20145th CircuitDefendant Win

Tammy Bell v. Jon Thornburg

Dec 31, 20135th CircuitDefendant Win

Arango v. Telemundo El Paso

Dec 30, 2013W.D. Tex.Defendant Win

D.R. Horton, Inc. v. National Labor Relations Board

Dec 3, 20135th CircuitDefendant Win

Carey Salt Co. v. National Labor Relations Board

Nov 21, 20135th CircuitMixed Result

EEOC v. Boh Brothers Const Co., L.L.C.

Oct 1, 20135th CircuitPlaintiff Win

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

Sep 27, 20135th CircuitMixed Result

Franks Investment Co. v. Union Pacific Railroad

Sep 13, 2013W.D. La.Defendant Win

Davis v. Signal International Texas GP, L.L.C

Aug 28, 20135th CircuitPlaintiff Win

McGowan v. New Orleans Employers International Longshoremen's Ass'n, AFL-CIO

Aug 12, 20135th CircuitDefendant Win

Showing 351–400 of 730 rulings · Page 8 of 15

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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.