‘About sending a message’: Jury decides on punitive damages in 'Take Care of Maya' case

After hearing from both sides regarding punitive damages in the trial of a Venice family suing Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital, the jury decided to award the Kowalski family $50 million.

Earlier Thursday afternoon, a six-person jury returned with a verdict finding Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital liable on seven claims and awarded the Kowalski family, who sued the hospital in 2018, approximately $211 million. The total amount of damages the jury decided to award the family is approximately $261 million.

The Kowalski family sued the St. Petersburg-based hospital more than a year after mother and wife, Beata Kowalski, took her life in what she saw as the only way to bring her daughter home after then 10-year-old Maya Kowalski was separated from her family due to child abuse allegations that arose against her mother.

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The family took Maya to All Children's Hospital in October 2016 due to a severe stomachache they believed was caused by a relapse of Maya's Chronic Regional Pain Syndrome, a disorder that impairs the central nervous system and heightens pain sensations.

Hospital staff began to have suspicions of possible child abuse after they observed what many testified to as inconsistencies between Maya’s behaviors and her condition. Staff placed calls to the abuse hotline, beginning a more than three-month ordeal for the Kowalski family that has haunted them since.

The jury began deliberating Tuesday afternoon on seven claims including battery, fraudulent billing, false imprisonment, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and two claims of extreme and outrageous actions towards Maya and Beata Kowalski, which led to Beata taking her life.

Beyond finding the hospital liable on the seven claims, the jury also opted that punitive damages should be awarded for two of the claims, false imprisonment and battery.

Punitive damages are awarded to a plaintiff as a way to punish a defendant for egregious actions and deter them from acting in a similar manner in the future. These damages, which a judge must grant permission for a plaintiff to pursue prior to a trial beginning, are an additional claim to the compensatory damages that are awarded during a civil trial.

Beyond awarding $50 million in punitive damages, the jury found that Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital had specific intent to harm Maya Kowalski and that its conduct did in fact harm her.

The defense for the hospital indicated through a statement that the hospital does intend to appeal the case "based on the clear and prejudicial errors throughout the trial and deliberate conduct by plaintiff's counsel that misled the jury."

Attorneys argue over punitive damages

Greg Anderson, the family's attorney, urged the jury when they returned to the courtroom following a short break after the verdict was read to decide on punitive damages to consider awarding the Kowalski family enough money to ensure that a message was sent to the highest levels of the hospital.

“It is to force a change in corporate conduct, it is to overcome the inertia that, ‘We have been doing it this way for a long time, well you know we got hit for malpractice, let’s put it over here on this part of the balance sheet and maybe if we are lucky the president won’t hear about it,’” Anderson said. “We need to make an award to make sure there’s absolutely no question everyone in that organization all the way up to the top hears about it.”

Ethen Shapiro, one of the five attorneys defending the hospital and who expressed disappointment with the verdict, suggested to the jury the compensatory damages already awarded were fair.

More trial coverage: Defense rests, Maya takes stand again before case goes to jury

Previously: Attorneys for both sides reflect as case nears an end

Shapiro also expressed fear that a punitive damages verdict would deter healthcare providers from speaking up in the future.

“Sending a message for punitive damages is really going to create a silencing effect at my hospital where it’s going to chill people from ever speaking up again,” Shapiro said.

Nick Whitney, an attorney for the family, called on Stephen Heese, the president of Chris-Craft Corp., a boat manufacturer in the Tampa Bay area. Heese had audited healthcare providers, including Tampa General Hospital.

If a company is going to sustain itself, it’s critical to stamp out a culture that sustains retaliation and retribution, Heese said.

Heese reviewed the hospital's IRS filings for the fiscal year 2020-2021 and indicated the hospital had a conservative estimate of about $600 million in cash, securities, and investments, and approximately $400 million in real estate at the end of the fiscal year. According to Whitney, that would mean the hospital has approximately $1 billion available for punitive damages.

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Shapiro called Sherron Rogers, vice president and chief financial officer at Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital since the beginning of 2022, via Zoom.

Rogers explained that the hospital is a nonprofit organization that provides care to the community and most of the patients who come into the hospital use Medicaid.

Shapiro in his questioning continued to reinforce the idea that if the hospital were to sustain punitive damages it could impact the money the hospital invests in itself and would impact the hospital’s ability to care for the most vulnerable children in the state.

Gabriela Szymanowska covers the legal system for the Herald-Tribune in partnership with Report for America. You can support her work with a tax-deductible donation to Report for America. Contact Gabriela Szymanowska at gszymanowska@gannett.com, or on Twitter.

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: 'Take Care of Maya' trial: Jury makes decision on punitive damages