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Employment Rulings in the Ninth Circuit

The Ninth Circuit covers the federal courts in Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands. The rulings below come from the circuit's court of appeals and the federal trial courts within it.

Of the 5,351 published rulings we track here (19672026), 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 5,351 published rulings we track in the Ninth Circuit.

Defendant Win
1,800 (34%)
Dismissed
1,160 (22%)
Mixed Result
911 (17%)
Plaintiff Win
723 (14%)
Remanded
518 (10%)
Settlement
239 (4%)

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 5,218 rulings we could classify by stage were decided.

Appeal
2,095 (40%)

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
639 (12%)

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 639 summary-judgment rulings here, 379 ended the case in the employer’s favor and 259 let the worker’s claims continue; the rest resolved in other ways.

Motion to dismiss
2,007 (38%)

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

Trial verdict
83 (2%)

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

Settlement / consent decree
217 (4%)

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
95 (2%)

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

Other rulings
82 (2%)

Procedural decisions and orders that do not fit the main stages above.

States in This Circuit

Browse rulings from courts in each state the Ninth Circuit covers.

Recent Rulings in the Ninth Circuit

Kudatsky

Jul 26, 2021N.D. Cal.Settlement

Botta

Jul 26, 2021N.D. Cal.Defendant Win

Avalos

Jul 26, 2021E.D. Cal.Mixed Result

Newell

Jul 23, 2021E.D. Cal.Mixed Result

Heyman

Jul 21, 2021D. Nev.Remanded

Cadena

Jul 21, 2021D. Nev.Defendant Win

Gastelum

Jul 21, 2021S.D. Cal.Dismissed

Michael Fenske v. Fresenius USA Manufacturing, Inc.

Jul 21, 2021C.D. Cal.Mixed Result

Long Beach Memorial Medical Center v. United Steel, Paper and Forestry, Rubber, Manufacturing, Energy, Allied Industrial and Service Workers International Union

Jul 21, 2021C.D. Cal.Mixed Result

Avalos

Jul 21, 2021E.D. Cal.Dismissed

Stillwell

Jul 20, 2021D. Or.Settlement

Robinson

Jul 20, 2021D. Nev.Defendant Win

Harper

Jul 20, 2021D. Nev.Settlement

Ehealthinsurance Services, Inc. v. Healthpilot Technologies LLC

Jul 20, 2021N.D. Cal.Mixed Result

Darling

Jul 20, 2021N.D. Cal.Mixed Result

DeFries

Jul 15, 2021D. Or.Defendant Win

Karl

Jul 15, 2021N.D. Cal.Settlement

Kollar

Jul 14, 2021W.D. Wash.Mixed Result

AllRounds, Inc. v. eShares, Inc.

Jul 14, 2021N.D. Cal.Mixed Result

Gabriel Dorsey v. Pasadena Commercial Development Company, LLC

Jul 14, 2021C.D. Cal.Remanded

(PS) Binns v. American General Life and Accident Ins. Co.

Jul 14, 2021E.D. Cal.Defendant Win

Campbell

Jul 13, 2021D. IdahoPlaintiff Win

Secretary of Labor, United States Department of Labor v. Mesa Air Group Incorporated

Jul 13, 2021D. Ariz.Dismissed

Maday Marenco-Hernandez v. Merrick Garland

Jul 13, 20219th CircuitRemanded

NLRB v. Nexstar Broadcasting, Inc.

Jul 12, 20219th CircuitPlaintiff Win

Brittney Shaw v. Nike Retail Services, Inc.

Jul 9, 2021C.D. Cal.Dismissed

Eric Cleveland v. DBD KAM LLC

Jul 9, 2021C.D. Cal.Remanded

Gary Scherer v. Simco Financial Services Inc.

Jul 9, 2021C.D. Cal.Dismissed

Whitfield

Jul 7, 2021D. Nev.Defendant Win

Sanchez

Jul 6, 2021E.D. Cal.Mixed Result

Greenwood

Jul 2, 2021S.D. Cal.Dismissed

Ornelas

Jul 2, 2021N.D. Cal.Mixed Result

King

Jul 1, 2021N.D. Cal.Remanded

Reynolds

Jun 30, 2021E.D. Cal.Dismissed

Sanchez

Jun 30, 2021E.D. Cal.Defendant Win

Adams

Jun 30, 2021D. Ariz.Mixed Result

Adams

Jun 30, 2021D. AlaskaDismissed

Proofpoint, Inc. v. Vade Secure, Incorporated

Jun 29, 2021N.D. Cal.Mixed Result

Shafer

Jun 29, 2021N.D. Cal.Defendant Win

Local 169 Laborer International Union v. The Penta Building Group Inc

Jun 28, 2021D. Nev.Plaintiff Win

DeRosa

Jun 28, 2021S.D. Cal.Dismissed

Jocelyn Trigueros v. Stanford Federal Credit Union

Jun 28, 2021N.D. Cal.Remanded

Lutge

Jun 28, 2021E.D. Cal.Plaintiff Win

Adam Azimov v. Merrick Garland

Jun 28, 20219th CircuitDefendant Win

Armstrong

Jun 25, 2021D. Nev.Dismissed

Freeman

Jun 25, 2021S.D. Cal.Dismissed

Huerta

Jun 25, 2021N.D. Cal.Defendant Win

G.N.

Jun 25, 2021N.D. Cal.Mixed Result

Andres Gomez v. Fox Rent A Car, Inc.

Jun 25, 2021C.D. Cal.Mixed Result

Cortes

Jun 24, 2021S.D. Cal.Defendant Win

Showing 2,7012,750 of 5,351 rulings · Page 55 of 108

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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.