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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

Annappareddy

Mar 16, 2023D. Md.Defendant Win

Krysztofiak

Mar 16, 2023D. Md.Defendant Win

Johnson v. Helion Technologies, Inc.

Mar 13, 2023D. Md.Mixed Result

Butterworth

Mar 3, 2023D. Md.Defendant Win

Jahagirdar

Mar 2, 2023W.D.N.C.Remanded

Towers

Mar 1, 2023D.S.C.Defendant Win

Parkins

Feb 27, 2023D.S.C.Plaintiff Win

Jackson v. Central Midlands Regional Transit Authority

Feb 23, 2023D.S.C.Defendant Win

Carmona

Feb 23, 2023D. Md.Dismissed

Schaeffer

Feb 21, 2023D. Md.Plaintiff Win

Franco

Feb 9, 2023D. Md.Plaintiff Win

Ortiz

Feb 7, 2023D. Md.Mixed Result

Spriggs

Feb 7, 2023D. Md.Settlement

Nguyen

Feb 1, 2023D. Md.Defendant Win

JTH Tax LLC d/b/a Liberty Tax Service v. Irving

Feb 1, 2023D. Md.Remanded

Doe

Jan 11, 2023D. Md.Defendant Win

Kohn

Jan 10, 2023D.S.C.Dismissed

Lewis

Dec 22, 2022D.S.C.Remanded

Gibson

Dec 16, 2022D. Md.Defendant Win

Davis

Dec 14, 2022D. Md.Plaintiff Win

Whittman

Dec 13, 2022D. Md.Plaintiff Win

Lutz

Dec 12, 2022D. Md.Mixed Result

Graham

Dec 12, 2022D. Md.Settlement

Griffin

Nov 15, 2022W.D.N.C.Remanded

Long

Nov 14, 2022E.D.N.C.Defendant Win

Fiallos

Nov 14, 2022D. Md.Plaintiff Win

Ramnarine

Nov 4, 2022D. Md.Plaintiff Win

ALLEN

Nov 2, 2022M.D.N.C.Defendant Win

Bittle

Oct 27, 2022W.D.N.C.Dismissed

Kevin Fonseca v. I.B.T. Teamsters Local Union 71

Oct 20, 20224th CircuitDefendant Win

Hester

Oct 12, 2022D. Md.Defendant Win

Kesha Williams v. Stacey Kincaid

Oct 7, 20224th CircuitPlaintiff Win

Clifton-Carter

Oct 4, 2022E.D.N.C.Dismissed

Jackson v. Sprint/United Management Company

Oct 4, 2022D. Md.Defendant Win

Merriweather

Sep 30, 2022S.D. W. Va.Dismissed

Kubas

Sep 30, 2022D. Md.Defendant Win

Kapoor

Sep 23, 2022W.D. Va.Dismissed

Brunson

Sep 21, 2022D. Md.Plaintiff Win

Holder v. Metropolitan Life Insurance Company

Sep 20, 2022D.S.C.Defendant Win

Anderson

Sep 14, 2022W.D.N.C.Defendant Win

Campbell

Sep 13, 2022D. Md.Remanded

Highers

Sep 8, 2022D.S.C.Defendant Win

DeAndre James v. Paul Adams

Sep 7, 20224th CircuitRemanded

U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Enoch Pratt Free Library

Sep 2, 2022D. Md.Plaintiff Win

Raley

Sep 1, 2022D. Md.Defendant Win

Jones

Sep 1, 2022D. Md.Plaintiff Win

Witherspoon

Aug 29, 2022E.D.N.C.Defendant Win

Rosin

Aug 23, 2022D. Md.Defendant Win

Robbins

Aug 16, 2022D. Md.Dismissed

Watts

Aug 16, 2022D. 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.