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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

Laborers' International Union of North America Local 1353 v. West Virginia American Water Company

May 17, 2019S.D. W. Va.Defendant Win

Keith Carroll v. Northwest Federal Credit Union

May 13, 20194th CircuitDefendant Win

Neil Letren v. Trans Union LLC

May 9, 20194th CircuitDefendant Win

Jerry Mullins v. The Union Memorial Hospital

Apr 29, 20194th CircuitDefendant Win

Price

Apr 25, 2019S.D. W. Va.Dismissed

The Monongalia County Coal Company v. United Mine Workers of America, International Union

Mar 22, 2019N.D. W. Va.Remanded

LTD

Mar 18, 2019E.D. Va.Dismissed

You

Mar 18, 2019N.D. W. Va.Dismissed

The Humane Society of the US v. National Union Fire Insurance

Mar 15, 20194th CircuitDefendant Win

Gateway Residences at Exch., LLC v. Ill. Union Ins. Co.

Feb 28, 20194th CircuitDefendant Win

U.S. Dep't of Labor v. Fire & Safety Investigation Consulting Servs., LLC

Feb 8, 20194th CircuitPlaintiff Win

Attorney Grievance Commission v. Jason Edward Rheinstein

Feb 5, 20194th CircuitDismissed

Hyde

Jan 29, 2019N.D. W. Va.Remanded

Dominique Adams v. J.S. Horne

Jan 25, 20194th CircuitDefendant Win

Adams

Dec 18, 2018D.S.C.Remanded

Constellium Rolled Products Ravenswood, LLC v. United Steel, Paper and Forestry, Rubber, Manufacturing, Energy, Allied Industrial and Service Workers International Union, AFL-CIO/CLC

Dec 4, 2018S.D. W. Va.Plaintiff Win

Anthony Bussie v. 408 Union - North Carolina

Nov 20, 20184th CircuitRemanded

Adams

Nov 13, 2018S.D. W. Va.Defendant Win

Kelvin Canada v. Lieutenant Rountree

Nov 8, 20184th CircuitDefendant Win

U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Big Lots Stores, Inc.

Sep 27, 2018N.D. W. Va.Plaintiff Win

NLRB v. Retro Environmental, Inc.

Sep 19, 20184th CircuitPlaintiff Win

Estate of Wayne A. Jones v. The City of Martinsburg

Sep 7, 2018N.D. W. Va.Defendant Win

Amanda Shoemaker v. Alcon Laboratories, Inc.

Aug 6, 20184th CircuitDefendant Win

Crisell Seguin v. US Department of Labor

Jul 10, 20184th CircuitDismissed

Carroll

Jun 25, 2018E.D. Va.Plaintiff Win

International Union, United Mine Workers of America v. Consol Energy, Inc.

May 21, 2018S.D. W. Va.Plaintiff Win

Kelvin Canada v. Christopher Gilbert

May 9, 20184th CircuitRemanded

United States Department of Labor v. Fire & Safety Investigation Consulting Services, LLC

May 3, 2018N.D. W. Va.Mixed Result

Bakery & Confectionary Union & Indus. Int'l Pension Fund v. Just Born II, Inc.

Apr 26, 20184th CircuitDefendant Win

Bruce Levine v. Employers Ins. Co. of Wausau

Apr 12, 20184th CircuitDefendant Win

Kukia Farrish v. Navy Federal Credit Union

Feb 16, 20184th CircuitDefendant Win

DOWCP

Jan 26, 20184th CircuitPlaintiff Win

U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Maryland Insurance Administration

Jan 5, 20184th CircuitRemanded

Young

Jan 3, 2018S.D. W. Va.Remanded

Fed. Energy Regulatory Comm'n v. Powhatan Energy Fund, LLC

Dec 28, 2017E.D. Va.Defendant Win

Adam Toghill v. Harold Clarke

Dec 15, 20174th CircuitDefendant Win

DOWCP

Dec 11, 20174th CircuitDefendant Win

Intellectual Ventures I LLC v. Capital One Financial Corp.

Nov 30, 2017D. Md.Defendant Win

Gregory Alan Adams, Jr. v. New Hanover County Detention

Nov 21, 20174th CircuitDefendant Win

S. Freedman & Sons, Inc. v. National Labor Relations Board

Nov 7, 20174th CircuitPlaintiff Win

Foster

Nov 3, 2017S.D. W. Va.Dismissed

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. McLeod Health, Inc.

Sep 21, 2017D.S.C.Defendant Win

Glass, Molders, Pottery, Plastics & Allied Workers International Union, AFL-CIO, CLC v. Tecnocap LLC

Sep 6, 2017N.D. W. Va.Plaintiff Win

Fraternal Order of Police Metro Transit Police Labor Committee, Inc. v. Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority

Aug 30, 2017E.D. Va.Dismissed

Glaspell

Aug 10, 2017N.D. W. Va.Plaintiff Win

Henry

Aug 3, 2017D.S.C.Defendant Win

Hugler

Jul 18, 2017D. Md.Plaintiff Win

Rockman

Jul 17, 2017D. Md.Defendant Win

Michael Breyan v. Classification Employees

Jun 26, 20174th CircuitRemanded

Brundle ex rel. Constellis Employee Stock Ownership Plan v. Wilmington Trust, N.A.

Jun 23, 2017E.D. Va.Plaintiff 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.