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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 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

Ellis

Mar 9, 201510th CircuitDefendant Win

Reiling ex rel. B.J.W.R. v. Sun Life Assurance Co. of Canada

Dec 5, 2014D. Kan.Plaintiff Win

Teamsters Local Union No. 455 v. National Labor Relations Board

Aug 27, 201410th CircuitDefendant Win

United Food & Commercial Workers Union Local 880 Pension Fund v. Chesapeake Energy Corp.

Aug 8, 201410th CircuitDefendant Win

Adams

Jun 5, 201410th CircuitDefendant Win

Didier

May 13, 2014D. Kan.Defendant Win

United Food & Commercial Workers International Union v. King Soopers, Inc.

Feb 28, 201410th CircuitPlaintiff Win

Smith v. Adams County Combined Court, Co.

Jan 22, 201410th CircuitDefendant Win

Padilla

Jan 3, 201410th CircuitDefendant Win

Eller

Dec 31, 201310th CircuitDefendant Win

Eisenhour v. Weber County

Dec 31, 201310th CircuitMixed Result

Eisenhour v. Weber County

Dec 31, 201310th CircuitMixed Result

Angell v. Fairmount Fire Protection District

Dec 18, 201310th CircuitDefendant Win

Bank v. Allied Jewish Federation

Dec 10, 2013D. Colo.Mixed Result

Adams

Nov 26, 201310th CircuitDefendant Win

Lobato v. New Mexico Environment Department

Nov 5, 201310th CircuitDefendant Win

Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace v. Spirit Aerosystems, Inc.

Sep 17, 201310th CircuitDefendant Win

Adams

Aug 20, 201310th CircuitDefendant Win

Cruces

Jul 8, 2013D. UtahDefendant Win

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Western Trading Co.

Jun 20, 2013D. Colo.Mixed Result

Lockheed Martin Corp. v. Administrative Review Board

Jun 4, 201310th CircuitPlaintiff Win

Jaremko

May 8, 201310th CircuitDefendant Win

Mizusawa

Apr 26, 201310th CircuitDefendant Win

Volner

Jan 31, 201310th CircuitDefendant Win

Society of Professional Engineering Employees v. Boeing Co.

Jan 31, 2013D. Kan.Mixed Result

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Original Honeybaked Ham Co. of Georgia, Inc.

Jan 15, 2013D. Colo.Mixed Result

FMSHR

Nov 15, 201210th CircuitPlaintiff Win

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Spud Seller, Inc.

Sep 30, 2012D. Colo.Mixed Result

In re Bank of America Wage & Hour Employment Litigation

Sep 27, 2012D. Kan.Mixed Result

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. TriCore Reference Laboratories

Aug 16, 201210th CircuitDefendant Win

Lederman

Jul 11, 201210th CircuitDefendant Win

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Picture People, Inc.

Jul 10, 201210th CircuitDefendant Win

National Labor Relations Board v. Teamsters Local Union No. 523

Jul 5, 201210th CircuitDefendant Win

Jaramillo

Jun 12, 201210th CircuitDefendant Win

Jaramillo

Jun 12, 201210th CircuitDefendant Win

Spradley

Jun 1, 201210th CircuitPlaintiff Win

Mike

Dec 9, 201110th CircuitDefendant Win

Lopez-Fisher

Nov 22, 201110th CircuitDefendant Win

Mid-Continent Casualty Co. v. Union Insurance

Nov 2, 201110th CircuitDefendant Win

Wesson

Sep 30, 2011N.D. Okla.Defendant Win

Barrie

Aug 17, 2011D. Colo.Defendant Win

United States Department of Labor v. Copart, Inc.

Jul 28, 201110th CircuitMixed Result

Powell

Jul 14, 201110th CircuitDefendant Win

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Abercrombie & Fitch Stores, Inc.

Jul 13, 2011N.D. Okla.Plaintiff Win

Powell

Jun 7, 201110th CircuitDefendant Win

United Steel, Paper & Forestry, Rubber, Manufacturing, Energy, Allied Industrial & Service Workers International Union v. Conocophillips Co.

Apr 13, 201110th CircuitMixed Result

Kline

Apr 7, 201110th CircuitDefendant Win

Hull

Mar 28, 2011D. Colo.Dismissed

Heublein

Feb 15, 2011D. Kan.Dismissed

Teamsters Local Union No. 523 v. NLRB

Oct 29, 201010th CircuitRemanded

Showing 351–400 of 552 rulings · Page 8 of 12

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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.