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Employment Rulings in the Seventh Circuit

The Seventh Circuit covers the federal courts in Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin. The rulings below come from the circuit's court of appeals and the federal trial courts within it.

Of the 2,293 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 2,293 published rulings we track in the Seventh Circuit.

Defendant Win
994 (43%)
Plaintiff Win
418 (18%)
Mixed Result
401 (17%)
Dismissed
288 (13%)
Remanded
154 (7%)
Settlement
38 (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 2,252 rulings we could classify by stage were decided.

Appeal
987 (44%)

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
465 (21%)

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 465 summary-judgment rulings here, 273 ended the case in the employer’s favor and 191 let the worker’s claims continue; the rest resolved in other ways.

Motion to dismiss
632 (28%)

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

Trial verdict
60 (3%)

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

Settlement / consent decree
35 (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
34 (2%)

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

Other rulings
39 (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 Seventh Circuit covers.

Recent Rulings in the Seventh Circuit

DeJong

Mar 20, 2023S.D. Ill.Remanded

Brown

Mar 17, 2023N.D. Ill.Remanded

Lentsch

Mar 6, 2023N.D. Ill.Defendant Win

MORALES

Mar 2, 2023S.D. Ind.Remanded

NLRB v. Haven Salon + Spa, Inc

Feb 27, 20237th CircuitMixed Result

Parents Protecting Our Children, UA v. Eau Claire Area School District, Wisconsin

Feb 21, 2023W.D. Wis.Defendant Win

Bevis

Feb 17, 2023N.D. Ill.Mixed Result

Ricky Hill v. AMB Sports & Entertainment, LLC

Feb 16, 2023N.D. Ill.Defendant Win

Teague

Feb 16, 2023C.D. Ill.Mixed Result

United Association of the Plumbing and Pipe Fitting Industry of United States and Canada, Local No. 360 v. Hubert Plumbing & Heating Co., Inc.

Feb 14, 2023S.D. Ill.Plaintiff Win

Rippley

Feb 6, 2023S.D. Ill.Remanded

Mausser

Feb 6, 2023C.D. Ill.Plaintiff Win

Huber

Feb 1, 2023E.D. Wis.Dismissed

Shahzad

Jan 23, 2023E.D. Wis.Defendant Win

Plumbers' Pension Fund, Local 130, U.A. v. Daniel Pellegrini Plumbing, LLC

Jan 18, 2023N.D. Ill.Defendant Win

ZHENG

Jan 12, 2023S.D. Ind.Mixed Result

Virgilio

Jan 10, 2023N.D. Ill.Dismissed

Conviser

Jan 9, 2023N.D. Ill.Plaintiff Win

DOWNING

Jan 5, 2023S.D. Ind.Plaintiff Win

Kumar

Jan 3, 2023N.D. Ill.Defendant Win

Nowak

Dec 29, 2022N.D. Ill.Defendant Win

DOUTHIT

Dec 22, 2022S.D. Ind.Defendant Win

Fuhrmann

Dec 16, 2022N.D. Ill.Defendant Win

Plumbers' Pension Fund Local 130, U.A. v. Only Plumbing 2 Inc., an Illinois Corporation

Dec 14, 2022N.D. Ill.Defendant Win

Davis

Dec 7, 2022INNDPlaintiff Win

Kennedy v. Chicago

Dec 1, 2022N.D. Ill.Defendant Win

Rogers v. Union Pacific Railroad Company

Nov 22, 2022N.D. Ill.Settlement

Brown

Nov 10, 2022N.D. Ill.Remanded

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Wal-Mart Stores East LP

Nov 7, 2022E.D. Wis.Plaintiff Win

LEON

Nov 3, 2022S.D. Ind.Remanded

Trustees of the Chicago Regional Council of Carpenters Pension Fund v. Drive Construction, Inc.

Nov 2, 2022N.D. Ill.Mixed Result

Gibbs

Oct 28, 2022N.D. Ill.Mixed Result

Etheridge

Oct 27, 2022N.D. Ill.Defendant Win

Alicia Page v. Alliant Credit Union

Oct 25, 20227th CircuitDefendant Win

Throgmorton

Oct 25, 2022C.D. Ill.Mixed Result

Ball

Oct 24, 2022E.D. Wis.Defendant Win

Chancey

Oct 14, 2022N.D. Ill.Remanded

Trustees of the Bricklayers Union Local No 6 of Indiana Pension Fund v. Lakewood Design, Inc.

Oct 13, 2022INNDPlaintiff Win

Tolliver

Oct 6, 2022E.D. Wis.Defendant Win

Brockett

Oct 5, 2022S.D. Ill.Defendant Win

Stewart, Timothy v. Rock County Human Services Department Employee(s)

Oct 4, 2022W.D. Wis.Dismissed

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Rogers Behavioral Health

Oct 4, 2022E.D. Wis.Defendant Win

Cates

Oct 3, 2022S.D. Ill.Mixed Result

MORALES

Sep 30, 2022S.D. Ind.Defendant Win

Inojosa

Sep 30, 2022N.D. Ill.Plaintiff Win

Markle

Sep 30, 2022N.D. Ill.Defendant Win

LEWIS

Sep 29, 2022S.D. Ind.Plaintiff Win

Minge

Sep 29, 2022N.D. Ill.Mixed Result

Jimenez

Sep 28, 2022E.D. Wis.Defendant Win

Badanish

Sep 28, 2022INNDDefendant 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.