Skip to main content

Employment Rulings in the Tenth Circuit

The Tenth Circuit covers the federal courts in Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Utah, and Wyoming. The rulings below come from the circuit's court of appeals and the federal trial courts within it.

Of the 552 published rulings we track here (1972–2026), 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 552 published rulings we track in the Tenth Circuit.

Defendant Win
271 (49%)
Plaintiff Win
84 (15%)
Dismissed
82 (15%)
Mixed Result
64 (12%)
Settlement
26 (5%)
Remanded
25 (5%)

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 537 rulings we could classify by stage were decided.

Appeal
162 (30%)

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
131 (24%)

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 131 summary-judgment rulings here, 99 ended the case in the employer’s favor and 32 let the worker’s claims continue.

Motion to dismiss
186 (35%)

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

Trial verdict
19 (4%)

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

Settlement / consent decree
25 (5%)

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
8 (1%)

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

Other rulings
6 (1%)

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

States in This Circuit

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

Recent Rulings in the Tenth Circuit

Maccagnan v. Cherry Creek School District No. 5

Jul 17, 202610th CircuitDefendant Win

Sharpe-Miller v. Walmart

Jul 13, 202610th CircuitMixed Result

Plump

Dec 16, 202510th CircuitDefendant Win

Barnes

Oct 6, 2025D. Kan.Defendant Win

Teamsters Local No. 795 v. Kroger Co., The

Sep 30, 2025D. Kan.Defendant Win

Swepson

Sep 29, 202510th CircuitDefendant Win

Tintic Consolidated Metals v. Secretary of Labor

Sep 22, 202510th CircuitDefendant Win

Nielson

Sep 17, 2025D. UtahDismissed

Feldkamp

Sep 15, 2025D. Kan.Defendant Win

Perez

Sep 12, 2025D. Colo.Mixed Result

Reynolds

Sep 12, 2025D. UtahDefendant Win

Gomez

Sep 10, 2025D. Colo.Plaintiff Win

Perry

Sep 9, 2025D. Kan.Settlement

Cook

Sep 9, 2025D. Colo.Defendant Win

Comber

Sep 5, 2025D. UtahDismissed

Bautista

Sep 4, 2025D. Colo.Defendant Win

Levy

Aug 28, 2025D. Colo.Mixed Result

Johnson v. Johnson

Aug 26, 2025W.D. Okla.Dismissed

Coates

Jul 23, 2025D. Colo.Plaintiff Win

Peterson

Jul 16, 2025D. Colo.Defendant Win

Bongiovanni

Jul 3, 2025D. Colo.Defendant Win

Cook

Jun 20, 2025D. UtahDefendant Win

Sailer

Jun 17, 2025D. Kan.Mixed Result

Zou

Jun 4, 2025N.D. Okla.Defendant Win

Robson

May 30, 2025D. Kan.Defendant Win

Bingham

May 22, 2025D. UtahSettlement

Riley

May 9, 2025D.N.M.Plaintiff Win

B.

May 2, 2025D. UtahPlaintiff Win

Chavez

Apr 16, 2025D.N.M.Dismissed

Brambel

Apr 16, 2025D. Kan.Dismissed

McKeown

Mar 31, 2025W.D. Okla.Mixed Result

Slayton

Mar 17, 2025D. Colo.Dismissed

Brownfield

Mar 10, 2025D. Colo.Dismissed

Houston v. Smith

Mar 10, 2025D. Colo.Dismissed

Lawrence

Feb 19, 2025D. Colo.Defendant Win

Little

Feb 19, 2025D. Colo.Settlement

Lawrence

Feb 18, 2025D. Colo.Dismissed

United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Chipotle Services, LLC

Feb 10, 2025D. Kan.Mixed Result

Geddings

Feb 7, 2025D.N.M.Dismissed

United States Department of Labor v. Los Cocos Mexican Restaurant, Inc.

Jan 29, 2025D. Kan.Plaintiff Win

Schlagel

Jan 28, 2025D. Colo.Mixed Result

Deakin

Jan 23, 2025D.N.M.Mixed Result

Kimbro

Jan 16, 2025W.D. Okla.Defendant Win

United States Department of Labor v. Mr. Cao's LLC

Dec 27, 2024D. Kan.Plaintiff Win

Rogers v. Keurig Dr Pepper The American Bottling Company

Dec 20, 2024D. Kan.Dismissed

Wood

Dec 20, 2024N.D. Okla.Dismissed

Arellanes

Dec 18, 2024D.N.M.Dismissed

Mighell

Dec 12, 2024D. Colo.Defendant Win

Swepson

Dec 5, 2024D. Kan.Defendant Win

United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Chipotle Services, LLC

Dec 3, 2024D. Kan.Plaintiff Win

Showing 1–50 of 552 rulings · Page 1 of 12

Browse Other Circuits

Explore employment rulings from the other federal circuits.

Facing something similar at work?Check your rights — free, private, no sign-up

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.