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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

Nazareth

May 7, 2025W.D. Va.Settlement

Ragan

May 5, 2025D. Md.Plaintiff Win

Li

May 5, 2025W.D. Va.Plaintiff Win

Moody v. Dillon County

May 2, 2025D.S.C.Plaintiff Win

Bradford v. Armed Forces Benefit Association

May 2, 2025D. Md.Defendant Win

Byers

May 2, 2025D. Md.Settlement

Burnett

May 2, 2025D. Md.Defendant Win

Janetis

May 1, 2025D. Md.Settlement

Collis

Apr 29, 2025D. Md.Defendant Win

Corron

Apr 25, 2025D. Md.Dismissed

Surey

Apr 23, 2025E.D.N.C.Dismissed

Connor

Apr 22, 2025D. Md.Dismissed

Tripp

Apr 22, 2025D. Md.Plaintiff Win

Trustees of the National Automatic Sprinkler Industry Welfare Fund v. Fire Water Sprinkler Protection LLC

Apr 15, 2025D. Md.Dismissed

Hickman

Apr 14, 2025D.S.C.Defendant Win

Henry

Apr 14, 2025D.S.C.Mixed Result

Rollinson

Apr 10, 2025D.S.C.Defendant Win

Littlejohn

Apr 10, 2025D.S.C.Settlement

Sanders

Apr 9, 2025D.S.C.Dismissed

Gayhart

Apr 8, 2025E.D.N.C.Dismissed

NELSON v. THREE POINTS CENTER, LLC

Apr 7, 2025M.D.N.C.Defendant Win

Clay

Apr 4, 2025D.S.C.Dismissed

Brown

Apr 4, 2025D.S.C.Mixed Result

Midkiff

Apr 2, 2025E.D. Va.Defendant Win

Bellamy

Apr 1, 2025D.S.C.Defendant Win

O.W.

Apr 1, 2025S.D. W. Va.Mixed Result

Jordan

Mar 31, 2025D. Md.Dismissed

Donovan

Mar 31, 2025D. Md.Remanded

Jones

Mar 31, 2025D. Md.Defendant Win

Woodberry

Mar 28, 2025D.S.C.Settlement

MCDONALD

Mar 28, 2025M.D.N.C.Defendant Win

Balthazar

Mar 27, 2025E.D. Va.Dismissed

MedLine

Mar 27, 2025D. Md.Remanded

Chitekwe

Mar 27, 2025S.D. W. Va.Defendant Win

Hall

Mar 26, 2025D. Md.Defendant Win

Newcomer

Mar 25, 2025D. Md.Plaintiff Win

Speight

Mar 24, 2025E.D.N.C.Defendant Win

Stanley

Mar 21, 2025D.S.C.Defendant Win

McCann-McCalpine

Mar 20, 2025D. Md.Dismissed

Andrews

Mar 19, 2025D. Md.Defendant Win

Gayhart

Mar 19, 2025E.D. Va.Defendant Win

Donald

Mar 18, 2025E.D.N.C.Defendant Win

Holmes

Mar 18, 2025D.S.C.Mixed Result

Tansill

Mar 17, 2025E.D.N.C.Dismissed

Black v. Bon Secours Mercy Health, Inc

Mar 17, 2025D.S.C.Dismissed

Sankano

Mar 17, 2025D. Md.Dismissed

Aukhert

Mar 14, 2025E.D. Va.Mixed Result

Doe

Mar 13, 2025E.D.N.C.Mixed Result

Rivera Brito v. New Life Healthy Living, LLC

Mar 12, 2025D. Md.Dismissed

Curry

Mar 12, 2025D.S.C.Dismissed

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.