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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

Adams

Mar 1, 2016D. Md.Defendant Win

Constance Adamson v. World Government Communist Party

Feb 25, 20164th CircuitDismissed

Samuel Calderon v. GEICO General Insurance Company

Dec 23, 20154th CircuitMixed Result

Pac Tell Group, Inc. v. National Labor Relations Board

Dec 23, 20154th CircuitDefendant Win

National Labor Relations Board v. Pessoa Construction Co.

Dec 21, 20154th CircuitPlaintiff Win

Nancy Williams v. GENEX Services, LLC

Dec 18, 20154th CircuitDefendant Win

Bond

Dec 9, 2015D. Md.Defendant Win

Rose Lorenzo v. Prime Communications, L.P.

Nov 24, 20154th CircuitDefendant Win

Billy Anderson v. Officer R. Adams

Nov 24, 20154th CircuitDismissed

Huntington Ingalls Inc. v. National Labor Relations Board

Nov 23, 20154th CircuitMixed Result

Hicks

Nov 23, 20154th CircuitDismissed

Johnson v. Palmetto Citizens Federal Credit Union

Nov 23, 20154th CircuitDefendant Win

Elbert Hicks v. U.S. Dep't of Labor

Nov 23, 20154th CircuitDefendant Win

Ross Fiorani, Jr. v. Navy Federal Credit Union

Nov 19, 20154th CircuitDefendant Win

Greenville Hospital System v. Employee Welfare Benefit Plan for Employees of Hazelhurst Management Co.

Oct 13, 20154th CircuitRemanded

Adaobi Obioha v. Loretta Lynch

Oct 9, 20154th CircuitDefendant Win

Ervin

Sep 21, 2015D. Md.Defendant Win

Fadel Hamdan v. Ghada El-Badrawy Younes

Sep 9, 20154th CircuitDefendant Win

Intertape Polymer Corp. v. National Labor Relations Board

Sep 8, 20154th CircuitMixed Result

Freeman

Sep 3, 2015D. Md.Defendant Win

Fiorani

Aug 24, 20154th CircuitDismissed

Ross Fiorani, Jr. v. Navy Federal Credit Union

Aug 24, 20154th CircuitDismissed

U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Consol Energy, Inc.

Aug 21, 2015N.D. W. Va.Plaintiff Win

Brian Smith v. Clark/Smoot/Russell

Aug 10, 20154th CircuitMixed Result

Adams

Aug 5, 20154th CircuitDefendant Win

Chappell

Jul 31, 2015D.S.C.Defendant Win

Janeene Jensen-Graf v. Chesapeake Employers' Insurance Company

Jun 26, 20154th CircuitDefendant Win

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice, LLP

Jun 26, 20154th CircuitDefendant Win

Adams v. Anne Arundel County Public Schools

Jun 15, 20154th CircuitDefendant Win

Sadat Abdullah v. Harold Clarke

Apr 28, 20154th CircuitDismissed

Mitchell v. North Carolina Division of Employment Security

Apr 27, 20154th CircuitDefendant Win

Freight Drivers & Helpers Local Union No. 557 Pension Fund v. Penske Logistics LLC

Apr 21, 20154th CircuitRemanded

Fine

Apr 6, 2015E.D. Va.Mixed Result

Adams

Mar 20, 2015M.D.N.C.Mixed Result

WMATA

Mar 10, 20154th CircuitDefendant Win

Freeman

Feb 20, 20154th CircuitDefendant Win

Johnny Adams v. Dr. Ofought

Feb 9, 20154th CircuitDefendant Win

Durham School Services, L.P. v. General Drivers, Warehousemen & Helpers, Local Union No. 509, a/w International Brotherhood of Teamsters

Feb 5, 2015D.S.C.Mixed Result

Kearns

Jan 30, 2015M.D.N.C.Mixed Result

Edmond Adams, III v. Warden Eagleton

Jan 27, 20154th CircuitDismissed

Somers v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

Jan 9, 20154th CircuitDefendant Win

Jones v. Food Employers Labor Relations Ass'n

Jan 7, 20154th CircuitDefendant Win

Ruther

Dec 22, 20144th CircuitDismissed

Constance Adamson v. Socialist Corporation of KY

Nov 24, 20144th CircuitDefendant Win

Mitchell v. North Carolina Division of Employment Security

Nov 3, 2014E.D.N.C.Dismissed

Gestamp South Carolina, L.L.C. v. National Labor Relations Board

Oct 8, 20144th CircuitRemanded

McCabe

Sep 19, 2014E.D.N.C.Defendant Win

Higgins ex rel. Krivicich v. Forest Laboratories

Sep 8, 2014W.D. Va.Defendant Win

Kiraly v. American Federation of State, County, & Municipal Employees Local 2250

Sep 4, 20144th CircuitDefendant Win

Jorge Duran-Quezada v. Clark Construction Group, LLC

Aug 29, 20144th CircuitDefendant 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.