Ozempic Lawsuit Explained: The Two Cases, and What the Court Decides This Month

If you take Ozempic or a similar drug and you have read that people are suing, the coverage is confusing for a good reason: there are two different lawsuits about two unrelated injuries, and they are at completely different stages. This explains what is actually being claimed, what the court is deciding right now, and what a person would need to have a claim.

The drugs involved

The gastrointestinal cases cover Ozempic, Wegovy and Rybelsus (semaglutide, made by Novo Nordisk) and Trulicity and Mounjaro (dulaglutide and tirzepatide, made by Eli Lilly). The vision cases cover Ozempic, Wegovy, Saxenda and Trulicity. Those lists come from the orders that created each case, and they are not identical, which matters if you took only one of these drugs.

The gastrointestinal claims

The core allegation is that these drugs can cause gastroparesis and ileus, and that patients were not warned.

Gastroparesis means the stomach empties far too slowly even though nothing is physically blocking it. People describe feeling full within a few bites, staying full for hours after eating, nausea, and vomiting food eaten long before. Ileus is a related problem further down: the bowel stops moving, without a physical obstruction, causing distension, pain and vomiting.

There is an honest complication here, and any lawyer who does not mention it is not being straight with you. Diabetes is itself the most common known cause of gastroparesis. Most people taking these drugs are diabetic. Separating a drug effect from the underlying disease is the central fight in this litigation, and it is exactly what the court is examining this month.

The vision claims

The second case involves NAION, non-arteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy, sometimes described as a stroke of the optic nerve. Blood flow to the optic nerve head is lost and vision in that eye is damaged permanently.

It is painless and sudden. More than two thirds of patients notice it on waking. The typical pattern is losing a horizontal half of the visual field, usually the lower half. There is no effective treatment, vision generally stabilizes within about two months, and what is lost does not come back.

The same honesty applies. The established risk factors for NAION are diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity and sleep apnea, which are largely the conditions these drugs are prescribed to treat. The research is genuinely mixed: several studies found roughly double the risk among semaglutide users, and at least one large matched study found no significant increase.

The warning label is the heart of the case

This is where the claims get their strength.

Ileus was added to the Ozempic label in September 2023, but only in the postmarketing section that collects voluntary reports. Not until October 2025 did a genuine warnings section appear, and even then it says Ozempic is not recommended for patients who already have severe gastroparesis. The label has never told American doctors the drug can cause it.

On vision, the gap is starker. European regulators concluded in June 2025 that NAION is a very rare side effect of semaglutide and required it be added to the product information there. The UK regulator followed in February 2026. As of the current United States label, there is still no NAION warning at all.

What the court decides this month

From September 10 to 18, 2026 the court hears argument on whether the plaintiffs’ general-causation experts may testify at all. Briefing is complete. If the drugmakers win, most of the gastrointestinal MDL likely ends. If the plaintiffs win, the litigation moves toward trials that have not yet been scheduled.

Almost nobody writing about this litigation mentions that hearing, and it is more consequential than anything else on the docket.

What a claim requires

The single most practical thing to know: in August 2025 the court ruled that experts may not diagnose drug-induced gastroparesis from symptoms and clinical judgment alone. In practice that means a claimant needs a gastric emptying study documenting delayed emptying at the time of diagnosis. Someone with severe symptoms and no such test has a serious evidentiary problem.

The court also held that design defect claims against these branded drugs are preempted by federal law, which leaves failure to warn as the main theory.

For a vision claim, what matters is a confirmed NAION diagnosis with the conditions that mimic it ruled out, and records showing when you started the drug relative to the vision loss.

What is not true

There is no settlement. There is no fund. No court has valued any claim. The circulating “$2 billion Ozempic settlement” and the payout tables that assign dollar ranges to injury tiers are marketing fabrications with no source in any court record. Be skeptical of any firm that leads with a number.

Deadlines

Filing deadlines are set by state law and vary widely, and in most states the clock starts when a person knew or reasonably should have known that an injury might be connected to a medication. Given how much publicity these drugs have received, when a person “should have known” is genuinely arguable, which cuts both ways. There is no class action here, so nothing is tolling your deadline while you wait.

If you were diagnosed with gastroparesis, an intestinal obstruction, or sudden permanent vision loss while taking one of these drugs, have the dates and the medical records reviewed rather than guessing. Call (205) 407-6009. The consultation is free and there is no fee unless we win.

Fob James, IV

Fob James obtained a B.S., in software engineering from Auburn University and then continued his education by getting his J.D. from Vanderbilt University School of Law. After working for a large national firm for several years, Fob found that his passion was fighting for individuals who have been seriously injured or wronged by others. Fob believes that the jury is the great equalizer to the power and influence that large corporations have in society. Many of Fob’s cases are high profile and have been featured in, among others: Bloomberg News, PlanAdvisor, AL.com, PlanSponsor, InsuranceJournal, and BusinessInsider. For his work in obtaining numerous multi-million dollar outcomes for his clients, Fob has been recognized by: National Trial Lawyers Top 100, SuperLawyers Rising Star (2020-2026), Birmingham Business Journal Who’s Who in Law (2023-2025), and TrustAnalytica – Top Personal Injury Lawyers in Alabama.