Dr. Mehmet Oz’s lawsuits and major legal disputes fall into two eras: his years as a television host, when he was sued over weight-loss supplement endorsements and olive oil commentary and grilled by a Senate subcommittee, and his current tenure as administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which has produced a federal lawsuit from Minnesota and a civil rights complaint from California.
The Weight-Loss Supplement Class Action
The most significant private lawsuit against Oz was filed in February 2016 in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. Woodard v. Labrada (Case No. 5:16-cv-00189-JGB-SP) accused Oz and several co-defendants of falsely advertising dietary supplements as miracle weight-loss cures without scientific backing.1Courthouse News Service. Joint Stipulation of Settlement, Woodard v. Labrada Plaintiffs Veda Woodard, Teresa Rizzo-Marino, and Diane Morrison alleged they were misled into buying two Labrada-branded products: Garcinia Cambogia Dual Action Fat Buster and Green Coffee Bean Extract Fat Loss Optimizer.2Top Class Actions. Class Action Over Labrada Diet Pills Touted by Dr. Oz
The complaint alleged fraud, negligent misrepresentation, and violations of California and New York consumer protection and false advertising laws. The core accusation was that Oz used his television platform to describe the supplements as “magic” and “revolutionary” fat busters, and that consumers bought the products based on those endorsements. The suit named Oz along with his production company ZoCo Productions, Harpo Productions, and Entertainment Media Ventures as “media defendants,” and Lee Labrada, several Labrada nutrition companies, and ingredient suppliers Naturex and Interhealth Nutraceuticals as “product defendants.” Sony Pictures Television was initially named but dismissed with prejudice in March 2017.1Courthouse News Service. Joint Stipulation of Settlement, Woodard v. Labrada
The Rejected $5.25 Million Settlement
In June 2018, the media defendants proposed a $5.25 million nationwide settlement. It would have paid class members $30 per product purchased, capped at $90 per household for those without receipts, with no cap for claimants who had proof of purchase. Oz and the production companies also agreed to stop re-airing three specific episodes of The Dr. Oz Show that promoted the supplements and to remove related clips from the internet. The deal included no admission of liability.3Courthouse News Service. Dr. Oz Settlement4Counsel Financial. $5.25 Million Settlement Reached in Dr. Oz Promoted Miracle Diet Supplement
A federal judge rejected the deal in September 2018. After further litigation and a failed attempt to certify a nationwide class, the case was narrowed to California residents only.5Taft Law/Law360. Dr. Oz Class Settlement Shows How Liability Can Diminish The claims against Oz and his production companies were ultimately dismissed with prejudice on March 27, 2020, with no money paid to plaintiffs on those claims.6Jackson Walker. Result in Dr. Oz Class Action Weight Loss Supplements
The $625,000 Labrada Settlement
The product manufacturer Labrada settled separately for $625,000, covering the California-only class. Labrada also agreed to stop selling its Green Coffee Bean Extract and Garcinia Cambogia products. The settlement received final approval on October 7, 2019. Payouts to claimants were modest; checks began going out in February 2020 at roughly $9.78 per claimant.7Top Class Actions. Svetol Green Coffee Bean Extract Class Action Settlement5Taft Law/Law360. Dr. Oz Class Settlement Shows How Liability Can Diminish
The Olive Oil Defamation Lawsuit
The North American Olive Oil Association sued Dr. Oz in Fulton County Superior Court in Atlanta, Georgia, alleging he made disparaging statements about the quality and purity of its members’ olive oil products on his show. Judge Alford Dempsey Jr. dismissed the case under Georgia’s anti-SLAPP statute, which protects public participation and free speech. The judge wrote that he had “grave concerns” the lawsuit was an attempt to chill speech.8Anti-SLAPP Project. NAOOA v. Dr. Oz Anti-SLAPP Ruling
The association appealed, but the two sides reached a settlement in May 2017 under which the NAOOA dropped its appeal.9North American Olive Oil Association. Joint Statement, NAOOA and Dr. Oz
The 2014 Senate Hearing on Weight-Loss Scams
Not every legal proceeding involving Oz has been a lawsuit. On June 17, 2014, he appeared before the Senate Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Insurance, chaired by Senator Claire McCaskill of Missouri, at a hearing focused on weight-loss scams and celebrity endorsements.10CNN. Senate Grills Dr. Oz Over Weight Loss Products
McCaskill told Oz that “the scientific community is almost monolithic against you” regarding the products he had promoted, and she questioned why he would “cheapen your show” by giving viewers “false hope.” She coined the phrase “The Dr. Oz Effect” to describe how featuring a product on his show sent sales soaring and attracted scam artists overnight.11NBC News. The Dr. Oz Effect: Senators Scold Mehmet Oz for Diet Scams
Oz framed himself as a “cheerleader” for an audience desperate for hope. He acknowledged using “flowery language” but insisted he believed in the products he featured, saying he had given them to his own family. He also argued that he could not be held responsible for companies using clips of his show without permission to market products he never specifically endorsed.12Time. Dr. Oz Grilled at Senate Hearing After the hearing, he pledged to exercise greater caution in discussing supplements and committed to publishing a list of products he considered scientifically credible.10CNN. Senate Grills Dr. Oz Over Weight Loss Products No lawsuit or FTC enforcement action against Oz personally followed.
The Columbia Faculty Letter
In April 2015, ten physicians wrote to Dr. Lee Goldman, Dean of Medicine at Columbia University, accusing Oz of “an egregious lack of integrity by promoting quack treatments and cures in the interest of personal financial gain.” The letter, led by Dr. Henry Miller of Stanford’s Hoover Institute, urged Columbia to remove Oz from its faculty. Columbia declined. Spokesman Doug Levy said the university was “committed to the principle of academic freedom and to upholding faculty members’ freedom of expression for statements they make in public discussion.”13CNN. Physicians Write Letter Asking Columbia to Remove Dr. Oz14Politico. Columbia Defends Dr. Oz Appointment The letter was not a legal action, and no medical board or professional body imposed formal discipline.
Minnesota v. Oz
Since Oz was confirmed as CMS administrator on April 3, 2025, the most significant lawsuit naming him in his official capacity has come from Minnesota. In February 2026, CMS deferred more than $259 million in federal Medicaid matching funds from the state, citing concerns across 14 high-risk service areas. Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison and the state’s Department of Human Services sued in federal court, arguing the deferral violated the Fifth Amendment, the Administrative Procedure Act, and the Constitution’s Spending Clause. The state called the withholding more than 15 times larger than any previous Medicaid deferral it had received.15Minnesota Attorney General. Minnesota Medicaid Funding Lawsuit
On April 6, 2026, the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota denied Minnesota’s request for a preliminary injunction in State of Minnesota v. Oz (Case No. 26-cv-1701). The court found that a CMS deferral is an investigative step comparable to an audit rather than a final agency action, that public statements by Oz and Vice President JD Vance were insufficient to prove bad faith, and that $259 million amounted to only 1.8% of projected federal Medicaid funding for the state, too small to establish irreparable harm.16Snell & Wilmer. Federal Court Upholds CMS Medicaid Funding Deferral: Key Takeaways
California’s Civil Rights Complaint
Oz’s public comments about hospice fraud in Los Angeles also generated a formal civil rights complaint, though not litigation. At a January 9, 2026 press conference alongside First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli, Oz claimed that approximately $3.5 billion in hospice and home care fraud had occurred in Los Angeles, attributing much of it to the “Russian Armenian mafia.” CMS later clarified that the $3.5 billion figure represented total Medicare billing for those services in the area, not confirmed fraud.17ABC7. DOJ and Dr. Oz Targeting California Alleged Medical Fraud18U.S. News & World Report. Oz Says California’s Not Fighting Health Care Fraud
On January 29, 2026, California Governor Gavin Newsom filed a civil rights complaint with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services accusing Oz of illegal discrimination against Armenian Americans. The complaint centered on a video Oz posted on official government social media accounts in which he stood in the Van Nuys neighborhood of Los Angeles, pointed toward businesses with Armenian-language signage, and said, “You notice the lettering and language behind me is of that dialect.” Newsom’s office argued that the remarks had already caused real-world harm, including negative effects on a local Armenian bakery featured in the video.19The New York Times. Newsom Files Civil Rights Complaint Against Dr. Oz20PBS NewsHour. California Gov. Newsom Files Civil Rights Complaint Against Dr. Oz
On the same day the video was posted, Oz sent Newsom a letter requesting detailed information about California’s oversight of its Medi-Cal program, citing a 348% growth in In-Home Supportive Services expenditures between 2015 and 2026 and asking for a response within 21 days.21Time. California’s Gavin Newsom Files Civil Rights Complaint Against Dr. Oz The HHS Office of Civil Rights was reviewing the complaint as of mid-2026, and the dispute had not escalated into formal litigation between California and the federal government.22KFF Health News. Hospice Fraud, Medicaid, Mehmet Oz, CMS, California