All Children's says Maya trial and $208 million verdict flawed
TAMPA — Can a hospital be held liable for the suicide of a mother who had not stepped foot on its campus for more than three months?
More than one year after a civil trial found that Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital falsely imprisoned and battered a 10-year-old Venice girl and contributed to her mother's suicide, hospital attorneys on Wednesday argued in a Tampa appellate court for a retrial or for the court to, at least, strike down some of the $208 million in damages.
Beata Kowalski took her life in 2017, three months after a judge sheltered her daughter, Maya Kowalski, at All Children's where doctors had reported the mother for suspected medical child abuse.
All Children's attorney Derek Stikeleather said the jury had found the hospital contributed to the mother's suicide even though it had no duty of care toward her, an extremely rare conclusion in Florida case law.
He told the three judge panel from the Florida Second District Court of Appeal that no evidence had been produced that justified the jury's award of $5 million for the hospital fraudulently billing the family's insurance company.
And the jury incorrectly found the hospital liable for conduct that should have been given immunity under state laws that protect agencies and others acting on behalf of Florida's child welfare system, he said.
He characterized the amount of damages awarded as 'wildly off the mark.'
'These three major errors set the stage for wild allegations that this is a hospital that kidnapped and tortured a little girl in order to kill her mother,' Stikeleather said. 'That did not give the hospital a fair trial and a retrial is necessary.'
The three judges asked Stikeleather a series of questions that suggest the hospital faces a high bar to overturn the results of the eight-week civil jury trial that concluded in November 2023.
Judge Andrea T. Smith asked whether immunity extended to potentially harmful acts such as intentional infliction of emotional distress, one of the counts that the jury regarded as grounds for the hospital's part in the mother's suicide.
There were also questions about the hospital's refusal to let the family remove their child from the St. Petersburg hospital.
The court is expected to rule in the coming months. All Children's has much riding on the verdict.
The hospital was maligned on social media after the case gained international acclaim through the Netflix documentary 'Take Care of Maya.' The award represents almost a third of the $702 million in revenue that the St. Petersburg hospital reported on its 2022 tax return, the most recent available.
Additionally, if the appeal fails, the hospital will also be liable for interest, which has been accruing at roughly $55,000 per day.
Michael Tanner, the appellate attorney for the Kowalski family, argued that the jury awarded damages based on the actions carried out by hospital employees and not social workers acting on behalf of the state.
The Kowalski family sued the hospital in 2018 claiming that the hospital blocked the family from leaving the hospital with their child prior to a judge approving the state's request to remove her from her family.
The hospital's report to the state abuse hotline was based on concerns that the child, who had been diagnosed with complex regional pain syndrome, was being prescribed high doses of ketamine.
The lawsuit also detailed doctors placing the girl in a room equipped with video surveillance for one 48-hour period to try and prove she was faking her symptoms. On another occasion, she was told to strip her down to her shorts and training bra and was photographed without permission from her parents or a court. A hospital social worker sometimes kissed and hugged the girl and had her sit on her lap.
The jury's initial award of $261 million was later reduced by roughly $50 million by the trial judge who also dismissed the hospital's calls for a new trial.
Tanner also disputed that the damages were excessive. Maya Kowalski, who is now 19, was diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder and chronic major depressive disorder as a result of the trauma she endured, he said.
'The numbers are large no doubt,' he said. 'But we have to remember that these injuries were done to a 10-year-old child who then would suffer those injuries for the rest of her life.'
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