Netflix‘s Maya Kowalski said her family is feeling “so blessed” following the victory of her $261 million lawsuit against a Florida hospital. On Thursday, Maya posted a picture to her Instagram Story of herself smiling in court after breaking down in tears following the trial. “We are feeling so blessed! I will forever be grateful,” she wrote.
The jury found that the Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital falsely imprisoned the teen, who is the subject of the Netflix documentary Take Care of Maya, reported Daily Mail. It took nearly three days for the jury of six to decide that the family should receive $211,451,174 in compensatory damages.
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As a result of the jury’s decision, the family also received $50 million in punitive damages for false imprisonment and false imprisonment with battery. A total of $261 million will be awarded to the Kowalski family. The state removed Maya, 17, from her parents when she was just 10 after doctors accused them of faking symptoms of her rare condition, complex regional pain syndrome.
The jury determined that the emotional distress caused to Beata Kowalski, who had been forbidden to see her daughter for three months, led to her suicide in 2017. On Thursday, Maya, her father, Jack, and her brother, Kyle, wept as the jury’s findings were read at the court in St. Petersburg.
The children’s hospital was found liable for false imprisonment of Maya, battery of Maya, fraudulent billing of her father, Jack, inflicting emotional distress on Beata, wrongful death claim for the estate of Beata, and intentionally inflicting emotional distress on Maya. Family members argued that Maya’s mother fell into depression and eventually hanged herself in the family garage, but Johns Hopkins adamantly denied any involvement in her death or abuse.
Following the ruling, Howard Hunter, an attorney from Hill Ward Henderson who represented Johns Hopkins in the case, told DailyMail the hospital would appeal. It is unclear how long the appeals process will take, but the hospital is confident they will win their appeal. Jury awards are not final until the appeals process is complete.
Hunter said, “The facts and the law remain on our side, and we will continue to defend the lifesaving and compassionate care provided to Maya Kowalski by the physicians, nurses and staff of Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital and the responsibility of all mandatory reporters in Florida to speak up if they suspect child abuse.”
Jennifer Anderson, representing part of the Kowalski family’s legal counsel, said in a statement: “We are obviously grateful for the time and effort of the jury and Court. The family is completely grateful to be vindicated and truly prays this makes a change for other families in the future.”
In October 2018, Maya Kowalski’s family filed a $220 million lawsuit against the Florida medical facility, her social worker Cathi Bedy, Dr. Sally Smith, and her employer, Suncoast Center. The Kowalski family settled with Smith and Suncoast for $2.5 million in December 2021. It remains unclear whether a settlement was negotiated with Smith and Suncoast before the trial began.
In 2016, as allegations of child abuse were being investigated against Maya’s parents, a judge ordered her to be sheltered at the medical facility. Beata was suspected of suffering from Munchausen-by-proxy, or medical child abuse, at the time.
The condition called Munchausen-by-proxy involves either the caretaker of a child creating fake symptoms or creating real symptoms to create the appearance of illness in the child.
In addition to claiming the hospital medically kidnaped Maya, the Kowalski family cites examples of battery, such as “stripping her down” to a sports bra and shorts to take pictures of lesions and cuddling, kissing, and holding her without her parents’ permission while in their care.
Among the charges against the hospital were false imprisonment, battery, medical negligence, fraudulent billing, survivor claim for intentional infliction of emotional distress (Estate of Beata Kowalski), wrongful death claim for intentional infliction of emotional distress causing death, and Maya’s claim for infliction of emotional distress.
