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Employment Rulings in the Fourth Circuit

The Fourth Circuit covers the federal courts in Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia. The rulings below come from the circuit's court of appeals and the federal trial courts within it.

Of the 1,919 published rulings we track here (19732026), 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 1,919 published rulings we track in the Fourth Circuit.

Defendant Win
802 (42%)
Dismissed
356 (19%)
Mixed Result
284 (15%)
Plaintiff Win
276 (14%)
Remanded
165 (9%)
Settlement
36 (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 1,893 rulings we could classify by stage were decided.

Appeal
879 (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
305 (16%)

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 305 summary-judgment rulings here, 200 ended the case in the employer’s favor and 105 let the worker’s claims continue.

Motion to dismiss
606 (32%)

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

Trial verdict
46 (2%)

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

Settlement / consent decree
34 (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
13 (1%)

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

Other rulings
10 (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 Fourth Circuit covers.

Recent Rulings in the Fourth Circuit

James Mebane v. GKN Driveline North America, Inc.

Jun 2, 20264th CircuitDismissed

American Federation of State, County and Municipal v. SSA

Apr 10, 20264th CircuitDismissed

Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation v. John McCuskey

Mar 31, 20264th CircuitMixed Result

Jeremy Skidmore v. Michael Schinke

Mar 30, 20264th CircuitMixed Result

Ruben Palazzo v. Bayview Loan Servicing, LLC

Mar 20, 20264th CircuitDismissed

Anna Rhodes v. Navy Federal Credit Union

Mar 17, 20264th CircuitDefendant Win

Suhail Al Shimari v. CACI Premier Technology, Inc.

Mar 12, 20264th CircuitDefendant Win

Shauntae Anderson v. William Crouch

Mar 10, 20264th CircuitDismissed

Beatrice Johnson v. Tanya Adams

Mar 4, 20264th CircuitDefendant Win

Wilson Ochar v. Apple Federal Credit Union

Mar 4, 20264th CircuitDefendant Win

Lorraine Austin v. INOVA Health Care Services

Mar 3, 20264th CircuitDefendant Win

Attorney Grievance Commission of Maryland v. Gary Pisner

Mar 2, 20264th CircuitDismissed

Hadarou Sare v. Christina Nikiforidou

Feb 23, 20264th CircuitDismissed

Garten Trucking LC v. NLRB

Feb 18, 20264th CircuitDefendant Win

NLRB v. Garten Trucking LC

Feb 18, 20264th CircuitPlaintiff Win

Monroe

Feb 6, 2026E.D.N.C.Dismissed

Weldon Holtzclaw, Jr. v. John Doe 1 Spinx Employee

Jan 29, 20264th CircuitDismissed

Osvaldo Figueroa v. Butterball, LLC

Jan 13, 20264th CircuitSettlement

Moreno

Jan 12, 2026W.D.N.C.Dismissed

Moreno

Jan 12, 2026W.D.N.C.Dismissed

Babb

Dec 30, 2025D.S.C.Defendant Win

Wooten

Dec 29, 2025D.S.C.Mixed Result

Josefa Catalan Adame v. Pamela Bondi

Dec 23, 20254th CircuitDefendant Win

Hadarou Sare v. Central Collection Unit

Dec 22, 20254th CircuitDefendant Win

Tamika Pless v. State Employees' Credit Union

Dec 22, 20254th CircuitDefendant Win

Infrastructure and Energy Alternatives, Inc. on its own behalf and as Plan Administrator and Fiduciary of Infrastructure and Energy Alternatives, Inc. Employee Benefit Plan v. AXIM FRINGE SOLUTIONS GROUP, LLC, et al.

Dec 18, 2025D. Md.Dismissed

Ansell

Dec 18, 2025S.D. W. Va.Mixed Result

Rowand

Dec 17, 2025N.D. W. Va.Dismissed

Choi

Dec 16, 2025E.D. Va.Dismissed

Redwine

Dec 16, 2025W.D. Va.Defendant Win

Love

Dec 15, 2025D. Md.Defendant Win

Nwankpah

Dec 12, 2025D. Md.Dismissed

Burton

Dec 12, 2025D. Md.Dismissed

Hinton

Dec 10, 2025E.D.N.C.Mixed Result

Ramos

Dec 8, 2025D. Md.Defendant Win

Dec 8, 2025W.D. Va.Remanded

Muwahid

Dec 3, 2025E.D. Va.Defendant Win

West

Dec 3, 2025D.S.C.Defendant Win

Christopher Rogers v. Safe Federal Credit Union

Dec 1, 20254th CircuitDismissed

Frederic Washington v. Virginia Union University

Dec 1, 20254th CircuitDismissed

Deitch

Nov 26, 2025D. Md.Plaintiff Win

Kitzman

Nov 25, 2025D. Md.Dismissed

Jong Lee v. Agape Health Management, Inc.

Nov 25, 20254th CircuitDismissed

Garcia

Nov 25, 2025D.S.C.Defendant Win

Banks

Nov 25, 2025E.D. Va.Mixed Result

Coleman

Nov 24, 2025D. Md.Dismissed

Bradshaw

Nov 21, 2025D.S.C.Remanded

Schrof

Nov 21, 2025D. Md.Defendant Win

Bey

Nov 20, 2025D.S.C.Dismissed

Adetu

Nov 20, 2025D. Md.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.