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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

Dignity Health v. California Department of Industrial Relations, Division of Labor Standards Enforcement

Mar 30, 2020N.D. Cal.Defendant Win

Cooper

Mar 27, 2020D. Nev.Dismissed

Strojnik

Mar 27, 2020E.D. Cal.Plaintiff Win

Deng

Mar 25, 2020D. Nev.Mixed Result

Christophel

Mar 25, 2020D. Nev.Dismissed

Langer

Mar 25, 2020S.D. Cal.Dismissed

Burks

Mar 24, 2020D. Nev.Dismissed

Schutza

Mar 24, 2020S.D. Cal.Dismissed

Shaikh

Mar 24, 2020N.D. Cal.Mixed Result

Vinayagam

Mar 23, 2020D. Nev.Dismissed

Bain

Mar 23, 2020N.D. Cal.Plaintiff Win

Williams v. U.S. Airways American Airlines, Inc.

Mar 23, 2020N.D. Cal.Defendant Win

Garedakis

Mar 23, 2020N.D. Cal.Settlement

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Global Horizons Inc

Mar 20, 2020E.D. Wash.Mixed Result

Merritt

Mar 20, 2020D. Ariz.Dismissed

(PS) Charles v. U.S. Office of Personnel Management

Mar 19, 2020E.D. Cal.Mixed Result

Doe

Mar 19, 2020E.D. Cal.Mixed Result

Awmagan

Mar 18, 2020S.D. Cal.Defendant Win

Carpenters Local Union 721 v. Phil Limon

Mar 18, 20209th CircuitPlaintiff Win

Holmes

Mar 17, 2020D. Nev.Dismissed

Hernandez

Mar 17, 2020N.D. Cal.Plaintiff Win

Synoracki

Mar 16, 2020W.D. Wash.Defendant Win

Gutierrez Negrete v. Commercial Roofing Solutions Inc.

Mar 16, 2020D. Or.Remanded

Sanders

Mar 16, 2020D. Nev.Dismissed

McKellar

Mar 13, 2020N.D. Cal.Dismissed

Cutera, Inc. v. Lutronic Aesthetics, Inc.

Mar 13, 2020E.D. Cal.Mixed Result

Dino Adam v. Wells Fargo Bank, N.A.

Mar 13, 20209th CircuitDefendant Win

Ormeno

Mar 12, 2020N.D. Cal.Settlement

Board of Trustees of the Employee Painters' Trust v. D Ciulla Flooring LLC

Mar 10, 2020W.D. Wash.Plaintiff Win

Mitchell v. Nye County, Nevada

Mar 10, 2020D. Nev.Dismissed

De la Cabada v. Ytel, Inc.

Mar 10, 2020N.D. Cal.Defendant Win

The Board of Trustees v. James Island Plastering, Inc.

Mar 10, 2020N.D. Cal.Plaintiff Win

Wonderful Real Estate Development LLC v. Laborers International Union of North America Local 220

Mar 10, 2020E.D. Cal.Dismissed

Narayan

Mar 10, 2020E.D. Cal.Dismissed

Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Assoc. v. CA Secure Choice Retirement Savings Program

Mar 10, 2020E.D. Cal.Dismissed

Moreno

Mar 9, 2020S.D. Cal.Settlement

Adams

Mar 9, 2020N.D. Cal.Defendant Win

Adam Ghadiri v. Doan Family Chiropractic

Mar 9, 2020C.D. Cal.Dismissed

757bd, LLC v. Natl Union Fire Ins. of Pitts.

Mar 9, 20209th CircuitDefendant Win

Bryan Estrada v. Richard L. Richardson

Mar 6, 2020C.D. Cal.Dismissed

Kristine Adams v. Newport Crest Homeowners Ass'n

Mar 6, 20209th CircuitPlaintiff Win

ICTSI Oregon, Inc. v. International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) and International and Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 8

Mar 5, 2020D. Or.Plaintiff Win

Adams

Mar 5, 2020N.D. Cal.Plaintiff Win

Vahora

Mar 5, 2020E.D. Cal.Defendant Win

Crane

Mar 4, 2020E.D. Cal.Mixed Result

Atayde

Mar 4, 2020E.D. Cal.Plaintiff Win

Mauia

Mar 3, 2020N.D. Cal.Remanded

Lovada Workman v. Dearborn National Life Insurance Company

Mar 3, 2020C.D. Cal.Defendant Win

Harris

Mar 2, 2020D. Nev.Defendant Win

Castro

Mar 2, 2020S.D. Cal.Dismissed

Showing 3,4513,500 of 5,351 rulings · Page 70 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.