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Employment Rulings in the First Circuit

The First Circuit covers the federal courts in Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Puerto Rico. The rulings below come from the circuit's court of appeals and the federal trial courts within it.

Of the 1,014 published rulings we track here (19802026), 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 1,014 published rulings we track in the First Circuit.

Defendant Win
410 (40%)
Plaintiff Win
186 (18%)
Mixed Result
175 (17%)
Dismissed
136 (13%)
Remanded
86 (8%)
Settlement
21 (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 996 rulings we could classify by stage were decided.

Appeal
419 (42%)

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
194 (19%)

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 194 summary-judgment rulings here, 111 ended the case in the employer’s favor and 83 let the worker’s claims continue.

Motion to dismiss
309 (31%)

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

Trial verdict
30 (3%)

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

Settlement / consent decree
19 (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
16 (2%)

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

Other rulings
9 (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 First Circuit covers.

Recent Rulings in the First Circuit

Turner

Jan 24, 2023D. Mass.Defendant Win

Erban

Jan 23, 2023D. Mass.Dismissed

Dingman

Jan 18, 2023D.R.I.Defendant Win

Krua

Jan 18, 2023D. Mass.Dismissed

Betancourt-Colon

Jan 12, 2023D.P.R.Defendant Win

Ocean State Tactical, LLC v. State of Rhode Island

Dec 14, 2022D.R.I.Plaintiff Win

Der Sarkisain v. Austin Preparatory School

Dec 6, 2022D. Mass.Defendant Win

Mongue

Nov 22, 2022D. Mass.Plaintiff Win

BENNETT

Nov 3, 2022D. Me.Plaintiff Win

Dieffenbach

Oct 31, 2022D.R.I.Defendant Win

Del Sesto v. Prospect CharterCARE, LLC

Sep 13, 2022D.R.I.Defendant Win

WOODS

Aug 31, 2022D. Me.Defendant Win

Barnes

Aug 17, 2022D.R.I.Defendant Win

BILBROUGH

Aug 2, 2022D. Me.Dismissed

Clark v. Capital Vision Services, LLC

Jul 22, 2022D. Mass.Mixed Result

Jiang

Jul 22, 2022D. Mass.Mixed Result

Munoz-Rosario

Jul 18, 2022D.P.R.Dismissed

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Citizens Bank, N.A.

Jul 15, 2022D.R.I.Defendant Win

International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, AFL-CIO v. Union de Carpinteros de Puerto Rico

Jul 14, 2022D.P.R.Settlement

Farzinpour

Jul 12, 2022D. Mass.Mixed Result

Jones

Jul 12, 2022D. Mass.Plaintiff Win

MAINEHEALTH

Jun 14, 2022D. Me.Defendant Win

Lee v. Howard Hughes Medical Institute

Jun 9, 2022D. Mass.Plaintiff Win

Tyler

May 31, 2022D. Mass.Mixed Result

Catala-Torres

May 23, 2022D.P.R.Defendant Win

BRADFORD v. NAPLES CAUSEWAY DEVELOPMENT LLC

May 16, 2022D. Me.Settlement

Echavarria

May 10, 2022D. Mass.Mixed Result

Karimpour

May 2, 2022D. Mass.Dismissed

Together Employees v. Mass General Brigham Incorporated

Apr 27, 20221st CircuitDefendant Win

NOLL

Apr 26, 2022D. Me.Settlement

Gregg

Apr 20, 2022D. Mass.Defendant Win

Agblekpe

Apr 19, 2022D. Mass.Plaintiff Win

Pugliese

Apr 15, 2022D. Mass.Plaintiff Win

Adams

Apr 13, 2022D. Mass.Dismissed

NIMA NGAPEY v. MAINE WORKERS COMPENSATION BOARD

Apr 12, 2022D. Me.Dismissed

JACKOWITZ

Apr 7, 2022D. Me.Defendant Win

GLYNN

Apr 5, 2022D. Me.Settlement

Massachusetts Laborers' Health and Welfare Fund v. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts

Mar 30, 2022D. Mass.Defendant Win

Lozada

Mar 28, 2022D.P.R.Defendant Win

Perez

Mar 28, 2022D. Mass.Plaintiff Win

HEWES

Mar 18, 2022D. Me.Mixed Result

DaRosa

Mar 17, 2022D. Mass.Remanded

BELL v. O'REILLY AUTO ENTERPRISES LLC

Mar 15, 2022D. Me.Plaintiff Win

Torres-Torres

Mar 14, 2022D.P.R.Defendant Win

Davis

Mar 11, 2022D. Mass.Plaintiff Win

OKEREKE

Mar 9, 2022D. Mass.Plaintiff Win

Adams

Mar 9, 2022D. Mass.Dismissed

BAILEY

Mar 8, 2022D. Me.Plaintiff Win

Echavarria

Mar 1, 2022D. Mass.Mixed Result

American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of New Hampshire v. P United States Customs and Border Protection

Feb 22, 2022D.N.H.Mixed Result

Showing 251300 of 1,014 rulings · Page 6 of 21

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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.