Contesting Workplace Discrimination in Court - American Bar ...

Part 5 | Employment Discrimination Litigation OutcomesAcrossall cases,settlement isby far thesingle mostlikely outcome,and . . .trials areextremely rare.EDL cases can conclude in various ways. For this study, we focused on four major outcomes: dismissal, trial, summary judgment,and settlement.* The following sections summarize case outcomes associated with many of the specific cases characteristics discussedin the previous sections. First, however, Figure 5.1 displays the general contours of EDL cases outcomes. Across all cases, settlementis by far the single most likely outcome, and occurs in 54 percent of cases. Dismissal and summary judgment are about equally likely,with just a slight edge to dismissal (18 to 16 percent, respectively). Finally, trials are extremely rare and are by far the least likelyoutcome in EDL cases (about 5.5 percent). As will become clear below, this general outcome pattern is remarkably robust acrossvirtually all case characteristics and dimensions. (For remaining figures we do not include percentage of cases other/still open.)figure 5.1 :edl case outcomes by percent(n=1788)* Refers to cases in which the defendant-employer wins summary judgment on all counts, ending the case at the district court level. It does not refer tosummary judgments for procedural or other motions that did not result in case dismissal.-29-