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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

Morales

May 25, 2010S.D. Ind.Mixed Result

Baxter

May 20, 2010N.D. Ill.Mixed Result

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

May 19, 2010INNDDefendant Win

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Simply Storage Management, LLC

May 11, 2010S.D. Ind.Mixed Result

Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co. v. Samsung Electronics Co.

May 7, 2010W.D. Wis.Mixed Result

Laborers' Pension Fund v. KMC Masonry, LLC

May 4, 2010N.D. Ill.Plaintiff Win

Sheehy Enterprizes, Inc. v. National Labor Relations Board

Apr 20, 20107th CircuitDefendant Win

Espenscheid

Apr 13, 2010W.D. Wis.Mixed Result

Allscripts

Apr 13, 2010N.D. Ill.Defendant Win

Fleszar

Mar 23, 20107th CircuitDefendant Win

Boeing Co. v. International Union of United Automobile, Aerospace & Agricultural Implement Workers

Mar 18, 20107th CircuitPlaintiff Win

Tully

Mar 17, 20107th CircuitDefendant Win

Gessling

Mar 16, 2010S.D. Ind.Plaintiff Win

Thompson

Feb 25, 2010E.D. Wis.Mixed Result

Robinette

Feb 25, 2010W.D. Wis.Mixed Result

Nuzzi

Feb 23, 2010C.D. Ill.Defendant Win

Elliott

Feb 22, 2010S.D. Ind.Mixed Result

White

Feb 12, 2010N.D. Ill.Plaintiff Win

Green

Feb 10, 20107th CircuitPlaintiff Win

Burns

Feb 10, 2010INNDDefendant Win

Friemuth

Feb 3, 2010W.D. Wis.Mixed Result

Kirkwood

Feb 1, 2010INNDMixed Result

Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co. v. Samsung Electronics Co.

Jan 5, 2010W.D. Wis.Mixed Result

Loparex LLC v. National Labor Relations Board

Dec 31, 20097th CircuitDefendant Win

NLRB v. Loparex LLC

Dec 31, 20097th CircuitDefendant Win

HISSONG

Dec 22, 2009INNDDefendant Win

Collins v. Heritage Wine Cellars, Ltd.

Dec 21, 20097th CircuitDefendant Win

Hughes v. United Air Lines, Inc.

Dec 21, 2009N.D. Ill.Dismissed

Anthony Collins v. Heritage Wine Cellars Ltd.

Dec 21, 20097th CircuitDefendant Win

Aearo Corp. v. American International Specialty Lines Insurance

Dec 17, 2009S.D. Ind.Plaintiff Win

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Supervalu, Inc.

Dec 15, 2009N.D. Ill.Mixed Result

Powers v. CENTENNIAL COMMUNICATIONS CORP.

Dec 14, 2009INNDMixed Result

Swartz v. Wabash National Corp.

Dec 7, 2009INNDDefendant Win

United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. ABM Janitorial-Midwest, Inc.

Dec 2, 2009N.D. Ill.Defendant Win

Zimmer

Dec 1, 2009S.D. Ind.Defendant Win

Kingstad

Nov 23, 2009W.D. Wis.Defendant Win

Bloch v. Frischholz

Nov 13, 20097th CircuitRemanded

Lynne Bloch v. Edward Frischholtz

Nov 13, 20097th CircuitPlaintiff Win

North

Nov 9, 2009C.D. Ill.Mixed Result

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. C.G. Schmidt, Inc.

Nov 5, 2009E.D. Wis.Plaintiff Win

Jackson v. Verizon Wireless

Oct 28, 2009S.D. Ind.Mixed Result

Kasten v. Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics Corp.

Oct 15, 20097th CircuitPlaintiff Win

Kevin Kasten v. Saint-Gobain Performance Plast

Oct 15, 20097th CircuitDefendant Win

Long

Sep 29, 2009S.D. Ind.Defendant Win

United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Olsten Staffing Services Corp.

Sep 28, 2009W.D. Wis.Defendant Win

Spivey

Sep 23, 2009S.D. Ill.Defendant Win

Laborer's Pension Fund v. Lay-Com, Inc.

Sep 2, 20097th CircuitPlaintiff Win

Laborers' Pension v. Lay-Com Incorporated

Sep 2, 20097th CircuitMixed Result

United Electrical, Radio and M v. NLRB

Sep 2, 20097th CircuitPlaintiff Win

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. International Profit Associates, Inc.

Aug 12, 2009N.D. Ill.Mixed Result

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.