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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 1,434 published rulings we track here (19722026), 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 1,434 published rulings we track in the Tenth Circuit.

Defendant Win
600 (42%)
Dismissed
258 (18%)
Mixed Result
227 (16%)
Plaintiff Win
223 (16%)
Remanded
95 (7%)
Settlement
31 (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 1,369 rulings we could classify by stage were decided.

Appeal
553 (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
242 (18%)

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 242 summary-judgment rulings here, 162 ended the case in the employer’s favor and 80 let the worker’s claims continue.

Motion to dismiss
485 (35%)

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

Trial verdict
34 (2%)

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

Settlement / consent decree
23 (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
14 (1%)

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

Other rulings
18 (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

Palczynsky

Mar 18, 2025D.N.M.Plaintiff Win

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Midwest Farms, LLC

Mar 18, 2025D. Colo.Dismissed

Arroyo

Mar 18, 2025D. Colo.Dismissed

Reid

Mar 18, 2025D. UtahDismissed

R.

Mar 17, 2025D. UtahMixed Result

Hardy

Mar 17, 2025D.N.M.Defendant Win

Chavez-Bravo

Mar 14, 2025D. Colo.Dismissed

Herbel

Mar 14, 2025D. Kan.Defendant Win

Lipe

Mar 12, 2025D.N.M.Dismissed

Carlson

Mar 11, 2025D. UtahMixed Result

Brownfield

Mar 10, 2025D. Colo.Plaintiff Win

Houston v. Smith

Mar 10, 2025D. Colo.Defendant Win

Towers

Mar 7, 2025D. Kan.Plaintiff Win

Phelps

Mar 7, 2025D. Kan.Defendant Win

Lucero

Feb 28, 2025D. Colo.Dismissed

Walker

Feb 26, 2025D. UtahDismissed

Frost

Feb 25, 2025D. Colo.Defendant Win

Burnett

Feb 24, 2025D. Colo.Defendant Win

C.

Feb 20, 2025D. UtahDefendant Win

Olmstead

Feb 20, 2025D. UtahMixed Result

Little

Feb 19, 2025D. Colo.Settlement

Lawrence

Feb 18, 2025D. Colo.Remanded

Quest Solution v. Redlpr LLC

Feb 18, 2025D. UtahSettlement

Walz

Feb 10, 2025D. UtahDismissed

H.

Feb 10, 2025D. UtahRemanded

Geddings

Feb 7, 2025D.N.M.Dismissed

EEOC v. Jackson National Life Insurance Company

Feb 6, 2025D. Colo.Dismissed

Webb

Feb 5, 2025W.D. Okla.Dismissed

Lore

Feb 4, 2025D. Colo.Remanded

Kemmerlin

Feb 3, 2025N.D. Okla.Defendant Win

Viegas

Jan 31, 2025D. Colo.Dismissed

Carlson

Jan 31, 2025D. UtahDismissed

Houcks

Jan 30, 2025D. Kan.Defendant Win

King

Jan 30, 2025D. Colo.Dismissed

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

Jan 29, 2025D. Kan.Plaintiff Win

Cuellar

Jan 28, 2025D.N.M.Plaintiff Win

M.

Jan 28, 2025D. UtahDefendant Win

Young

Jan 27, 2025D. Colo.Dismissed

Wolfe

Jan 27, 2025D. Colo.Dismissed

Deakin

Jan 23, 2025D.N.M.Dismissed

Kirkpatrick

Jan 23, 2025D. UtahDismissed

Gutierrez

Jan 22, 2025D.N.M.Dismissed

Munoz

Jan 22, 2025D.N.M.Mixed Result

Carlson

Jan 21, 2025D. UtahSettlement

Kimbro

Jan 16, 2025W.D. Okla.Dismissed

Brown

Jan 15, 2025D. Colo.Plaintiff Win

Briggs

Jan 15, 2025N.D. Okla.Mixed Result

Ortega

Jan 14, 2025D. UtahDismissed

DiPietro

Jan 14, 2025D. Colo.Dismissed

Staton

Jan 7, 2025D. Colo.Dismissed

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.