Skip to main content

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

Rosenberg

Jan 22, 2020D.R.I.Defendant Win

CONNOLLY

Jan 14, 2020D. Me.Defendant Win

Tveter

Jan 3, 2020D.N.H.Mixed Result

Justiniano

Dec 24, 2019D. Mass.Defendant Win

Flaherty v. Entergy Nuclear Operations Inc

Dec 23, 20191st CircuitDefendant Win

Suzuki v. Abiomed, Inc.

Nov 27, 20191st CircuitDefendant Win

Belezos

Nov 27, 2019D. Mass.Defendant Win

Veteran's Transportation Services v. Teamsters Local Union No. 25

Nov 25, 2019D. Mass.Mixed Result

ADAMS

Nov 19, 2019D. Me.Defendant Win

Neronha

Nov 15, 2019D.R.I.Defendant Win

Monaco

Nov 12, 2019D. Mass.Plaintiff Win

Desai

Nov 12, 2019D. Mass.Mixed Result

Cooper

Nov 8, 2019D.R.I.Defendant Win

Elliott-Lewis

Nov 6, 2019D. Mass.Defendant Win

IN RE: G.E. ERISA LITIGATION

Oct 30, 2019D. Mass.Mixed Result

Merlini

Oct 23, 20191st CircuitDefendant Win

Del Sesto v. Prospect CharterCARE, LLC

Oct 9, 2019D.R.I.Plaintiff Win

Del Sesto v. Prospect CharterCARE, LLC

Sep 30, 2019D.R.I.Dismissed

Gonzalez-Bermudez

Sep 30, 2019D.P.R.Plaintiff Win

Chavira

Sep 30, 2019D. Mass.Dismissed

LAUZON

Sep 18, 2019D. Me.Remanded

Paul Dismukes v. Brandeis University

Sep 18, 2019D. Mass.Plaintiff Win

Bazile

Sep 17, 2019D. Mass.Defendant Win

Payne-Callender

Sep 16, 2019D. Mass.Plaintiff Win

Ouadani

Sep 13, 2019D. Mass.Mixed Result

Montoya

Sep 6, 2019D. Mass.Plaintiff Win

MacDonald

Aug 14, 2019D. Mass.Remanded

US EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION v. WAL-MART STORES INC

Aug 13, 2019D. Me.Remanded

Pullman Arms, Inc. v. Maura Healey, Attorney General for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts

Aug 13, 2019D. Mass.Plaintiff Win

PARASKEVOPOULOS

Aug 9, 2019D. Me.Remanded

Posada

Jul 29, 2019D. Mass.Dismissed

Bonbon

Jul 22, 2019D. Mass.Defendant Win

BURTON

Jul 18, 2019D. Me.Defendant Win

Olivia Karpinski & Paul Edalat v. Union Leader Corporation, Patricia J. Grossmith, & Trent E. Spiner

Jul 16, 2019D.N.H.Dismissed

Karpinski

Jul 16, 2019D.N.H.Defendant Win

Nagy

Jul 16, 2019D. Mass.Dismissed

Caruso

Jul 8, 2019D.R.I.Plaintiff Win

Belezos

Jul 3, 2019D. Mass.Defendant Win

ADAMS

Jul 2, 2019D. Me.Dismissed

Merlini

Jun 10, 20191st CircuitPlaintiff Win

Holmes

Jun 4, 2019D. Mass.Remanded

National Labor Relations Board v. NSL Country Gardens LLC

May 10, 2019D. Mass.Plaintiff Win

Strunk

May 6, 2019D. Mass.Defendant Win

Holmes

Apr 25, 2019D. Mass.Plaintiff Win

Patrick Short, et al. v. Civ. Amerada Hess Corp. et al.

Mar 29, 2019D.N.H.Defendant Win

Adam S. Levy, et al. v. Thomas Gutierrez, et al.

Mar 28, 2019D.N.H.Mixed Result

National Association of the Deaf v. Harvard University

Mar 28, 2019D. Mass.Mixed Result

Union of Concerned Scientists v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Mar 27, 2019D. Mass.Dismissed

McGuiggin

Mar 25, 2019D. Mass.Plaintiff Win

R. Lacey Colligan v. Mary Hitchcock Memorial Hospital, et al.

Mar 19, 2019D.N.H.Dismissed

Showing 401450 of 1,014 rulings · Page 9 of 21

Browse Other Circuits

Explore employment rulings from the other federal circuits.

Facing something similar at work?Check your rights — free, private, no sign-up

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.