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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

Straw

Mar 5, 2018N.D. Ill.Defendant Win

Gold Medal Products Company v. Bell Flavors and Fragrances, Inc.

Mar 2, 2018N.D. Ill.Mixed Result

Williams v. TGI Fridays Inc

Feb 23, 2018N.D. Ill.Defendant Win

Laborers' Pension Fund v. Fuerte Systems Landscaping, Inc.

Feb 21, 2018N.D. Ill.Settlement

Gunchick

Feb 14, 2018N.D. Ill.Dismissed

Nistra

Feb 13, 2018N.D. Ill.Defendant Win

Farias

Feb 9, 2018N.D. Ill.Defendant Win

Behn

Feb 6, 2018N.D. Ill.Mixed Result

Trump

Feb 1, 2018S.D. Ill.Defendant Win

Teamsters Local Union No. 727 Health and Welfare Fund v. PAS LLC

Feb 1, 2018N.D. Ill.Plaintiff Win

Stapleton

Feb 1, 2018N.D. Ill.Defendant Win

Miscevic

Jan 29, 20187th CircuitDefendant Win

Morton

Jan 22, 2018N.D. Ill.Plaintiff Win

Dey

Jan 22, 2018N.D. Ill.Defendant Win

Adar Bays, LLC v. AIM Exploration, Inc.

Jan 19, 2018S.D. Ill.Defendant Win

Brotherhood of Locomotive Eng v. Union Pacific Railroad Compan

Jan 11, 20187th CircuitDefendant Win

Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, General Committee of Adjustment, Western Lines v. Union Pacific Railroad Co.

Jan 9, 2018N.D. Ill.Defendant Win

Laborers' Pension Fund v. W.R. Weis Company, Inc.

Jan 8, 20187th CircuitDefendant Win

Central States, Southeast and Southwest Areas Pension Fund v. B & M Marine Construction, Inc.

Jan 8, 2018N.D. Ill.Defendant Win

Teamsters Local Union No. 727 Health and Welfare Fund v. PAS LLC

Jan 8, 2018N.D. Ill.Plaintiff Win

Fox Valley Laborers' Health and Welfare Fund v. TNT Landscape Construction Inc.

Jan 5, 2018N.D. Ill.Plaintiff Win

Adama Njie v. Joseph Yurkovich

Jan 5, 20187th CircuitRemanded

Garza

Jan 2, 2018N.D. Ill.Mixed Result

Fields

Jan 1, 2018N.D. Ill.Remanded

Sadowski

Dec 20, 2017N.D. Ill.Defendant Win

Garzon

Dec 20, 2017N.D. Ill.Defendant Win

In re Jimmy John's Overtime Litigation

Dec 14, 20177th CircuitPlaintiff Win

Price

Dec 14, 2017N.D. Ill.Defendant Win

Aku

Dec 12, 2017N.D. Ill.Dismissed

United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. AutoZone, Inc.

Nov 21, 20177th CircuitDefendant Win

Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers & Trainmen v. Union Pacific Railroad

Nov 17, 20177th CircuitDefendant Win

Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers v. Union Pacific Railroad

Nov 17, 20177th CircuitDefendant Win

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Amsted Rail Co.

Nov 16, 2017S.D. Ill.Mixed Result

Adam Yeoman v. William Pollard

Nov 16, 20177th CircuitDefendant Win

Sidney Hillman Health Center o v. Abbott Laboratories, Incorpora

Oct 12, 20177th CircuitDefendant Win

U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Rent-A-Center East, Inc.

Sep 8, 2017C.D. Ill.Mixed Result

Watkins

Aug 22, 20177th CircuitMixed Result

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Union Pacific Railroad

Aug 15, 20177th CircuitPlaintiff Win

EEOC v. Union Pacific Railroad Compan

Aug 15, 20177th CircuitPlaintiff Win

International Union of Operating Engineers Local 139 v. Schimel

Jul 12, 20177th CircuitDefendant Win

International Union of Operati v. Brad Schimel

Jul 12, 20177th CircuitDefendant Win

United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. AutoZone, Inc.

Jun 20, 20177th CircuitDefendant Win

Hanson Cold Storage Co. v. National Labor Relations Board

Jun 20, 20177th CircuitMixed Result

Coleman

Jun 16, 20177th CircuitRemanded

In re FedEx Ground Package System, Inc., Employment Practices Litigation

Apr 28, 2017INNDSettlement

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Dolgencorp, LLC

Apr 10, 2017N.D. Ill.Plaintiff Win

Calvert

Mar 31, 2017S.D. Ind.Defendant Win

Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers & Trainment, General Committee of Adjustment, Union Pacific Western Lines & Pacific Harbor Lines v. Union Pacific Railroad

Mar 31, 2017N.D. Ill.Defendant Win

Armada (Singapore) Pte Ltd. v. Amcol International Corp.

Mar 21, 2017N.D. Ill.Mixed Result

Janus v. American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees, Council 31

Mar 21, 20177th 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.