'Take Care of Maya' trial: Judge lessens damages for Kowalski family, rejects new trial in case
SARASOTA, Fla. - The Sarasota County judge who presided over the highly watched ‘Take Care of Maya’ trial against Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital has lowered the damages awarded by the jury to the Kowalski family by $47.5 million.
Judge Hunter Carroll issued a ruling on Tuesday in response to several motions filed by the attorneys representing Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital (JCACH). Carroll found that certain damages awarded to the family were ‘excessive,’ remitting $47.5 million in damages to bring the total the hospital must pay to the Kowalski family to $213.5 million.
The judge also denied a motion filed by the hospital requesting a new trial. A six-person jury resoundingly decided in November that the hospital battered and falsely imprisoned Maya Kowalski. At the time, she was 10 years old and ordered to be sheltered at the hospital while allegations of child abuse were being investigated.
"There is no doubt that the various monetary awards by the jury are significant," Judge Carroll wrote. "Being large, though, does not necessarily mean they are excessive. In almost all cases here, they are not."
Judge Carroll lauded the jury's efforts and attentiveness, saying that ‘despite the picture painted by JHACH’s motion' they did not ‘go off the rails.’
The attorneys representing the hospital requested a new trial shortly after the jury found them liable for all seven claims in the case and awarded the family over $260 million in damages.
One of which alleged that the foreman of the jury presiding over the case shared information about the trial with his wife, who then posted the information to social media. Judge Carroll ruled that the defense failed to prove juror misconduct on this allegation.
READ: Judge determines no juror misconduct took place in $260M case
Throughout his order filed on Tuesday, Carroll frequently criticizes the defense's actions throughout the case.
"An overarching theme of JHACH's Motion is it did nothing wrong, and its actions were rather ordinary," Carroll wrote. "Having sat through the entire trial, the Court rhetorically wonders what JHACH's definition would be of an extraordinary action."
In his ruling, however, he sided with the defense in that the $50 million award to Maya's father, Jack, for non-economic damages is ‘excessive.’ He remitted the $50 million verdict by $26 million to $24 million.
The Court also reduced the financial damages awarded to Maya's brother, Kyle; Jack; and Maya by $16.5 million and remitted $5 million awarded to the family for a medical billing fraud claim.
Overall, Judge Carroll reduced the damages awarded to the family by $47.5 million from $261 million to $213.5 million. He wrote that his ruling, however, does not indicate that the jury delivered an ‘improper’ verdict.
"Just because the Court remitted a few jury awards, it does not follow that the entirety of the jury verdicts were improper or the product of passion. They were not."