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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

Emrit

Jul 31, 2023D. Kan.Defendant Win

Snyder

Jul 31, 2023D. Colo.Defendant Win

Porter

Jul 31, 2023D. Colo.Defendant Win

T.R.

Jul 28, 2023D.N.M.Defendant Win

Christians in the Workplace Networking Group v. National Technology and Engineering Solutions of Sandia, LLC

Jul 28, 2023D.N.M.Defendant Win

United Food and Commerical Workers Union, Local 1564 v. Smith's Food and Drug Centers, Inc.

Jul 28, 2023D.N.M.Defendant Win

Berryman

Jul 28, 2023D. Colo.Defendant Win

Garcia Valdez v. Signature Landscape, LLC

Jul 26, 2023D. Kan.Mixed Result

Bowling

Jul 6, 2023D. Colo.Mixed Result

Christians in the Workplace Networking Group v. National Technology and Engineering Solutions of Sandia, LLC

Jun 29, 2023D.N.M.Defendant Win

True

Jun 28, 2023D. UtahDefendant Win

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Chris the Crazy Trader, Inc.

Jun 28, 2023D. Colo.Defendant Win

Quint

Jun 16, 2023D. Colo.Plaintiff Win

Pierce

Jun 12, 2023D. Kan.Defendant Win

Rhoads

Jun 9, 2023D. Kan.Defendant Win

Thapa

Jun 7, 2023D. Colo.Mixed Result

Busby

Jun 2, 2023D. Kan.Dismissed

True

May 26, 2023D. UtahDismissed

Jones

May 25, 2023N.D. Okla.Defendant Win

Jackson v. Wyandotte County, Kansas, Unified Government of

May 25, 2023D. Kan.Mixed Result

Christians in the Workplace Networking Group v. National Technology and Engineering Solutions of Sandia, LLC

May 18, 2023D.N.M.Defendant Win

Alsaadi

May 15, 2023D.N.M.Remanded

Hollaman

May 11, 2023D. Kan.Defendant Win

McDonough

May 4, 2023D. Colo.Plaintiff Win

Estrada

May 3, 2023D. Colo.Plaintiff Win

Bowling

Apr 28, 2023D. Colo.Plaintiff Win

Barnett

Apr 14, 2023D. Colo.Mixed Result

Sawyer

Apr 12, 2023D. Colo.Defendant Win

Shaver

Apr 12, 2023D. Colo.Plaintiff Win

Spencer

Apr 6, 2023D. Colo.Dismissed

Aryee

Apr 5, 2023D. Colo.Defendant Win

Collins

Mar 31, 2023D. Kan.Defendant Win

Eagle

Mar 31, 2023D. Kan.Mixed Result

Tucker

Mar 30, 2023D.N.M.Defendant Win

Porter

Mar 28, 2023D. Colo.Defendant Win

Irizarry

Mar 15, 2023D. Colo.Defendant Win

Jones

Mar 15, 2023D. Colo.Plaintiff Win

Brunner

Mar 13, 2023D. Kan.Defendant Win

Smith v. Highland Community College

Mar 9, 2023D. Kan.Plaintiff Win

Overfield

Mar 9, 2023D. Kan.Defendant Win

Serna

Feb 28, 2023D. Colo.Defendant Win

Spencer

Feb 24, 2023D. Colo.Dismissed

Jones

Feb 23, 2023D. Colo.Plaintiff Win

Valencia

Feb 14, 2023D.N.M.Mixed Result

Perry

Feb 13, 2023D. Colo.Plaintiff Win

Vora

Feb 6, 2023D. Colo.Dismissed

Vargas

Jan 27, 2023D.N.M.Remanded

Brown

Jan 25, 2023D.N.M.Plaintiff Win

Smith v. Highland Community College

Jan 24, 2023D. Kan.Defendant Win

Dahl

Jan 19, 2023D.N.M.Defendant 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.