To their reasons for seeking a retrial in the Maya Kowalski case, attorneys for Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital in Florida have added a juror’s possibly mischievous and bias-revealing courtroom notes.
The attorneys state that the juror in question wrote the capital S’s in the name of Sally Smith, MD, a now-retired Hopkins pediatrician, to resemble the lightning-bolt S’s associated with Adolph Hitler’s Secret Service.
“Printing the first letter of Dr. Smith’s first and last name in this manner makes clear Juror No. 1’s bias and prejudice against Dr. Smith (and thus Defendant), equating Dr. Smith with a notorious Nazi organization,” the hospital’s defense team wrote in filing the motion for retrial.
The motion claims the juror only wrote his S’s in this style when spelling Smith’s name, according to Fox Channel 13 in Tampa Bay.
In response, the Kowalski family’s legal team presented evidence to the contrary and called the charge “inflammatory” and “desperate.” They suggested the accusation was an attempt to sully the name of a dutiful and responsible juror.
The trial and its aftermath have been in the headlines since November, when the jury ordered Johns Hopkins All Children’s to pay Maya and her family $261 million in compensatory and punitive damages.
The civil case has a high profile because the story unfolded in a popular Netflix documentary titled “Take Care of Maya.”
The allegations made by the Kowalski family included false imprisonment and battery of Maya as an inpatient, along with medical negligence, fraudulent billing and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
The worst of the harms ascribed to the hospital was the 2017 suicide of Maya’s mother, Beata Kowalski. The jury ruled her demise a wrongful death triggered by Maya’s ordeal with Johns Hopkins All Children’s.
Soon after winning the civil judgment, an attorney for the Kowalskis announced criminal charges of sexual assault are soon to follow.
On Dec. 15, Channel 13 Tampa Bay reported that, after listening to both sides, Judge Hunter Carroll said that “he would not make a ruling before the Christmas holiday on the motions. However, he did say he would let the lawyers know [before then] if he decides to move forward with a juror interview.”
The TV station’s full coverage of the latest development is here. Additional coverage by LawandCrime.com is here.
Dave P. has worked in journalism, marketing and public relations for more than 30 years, frequently concentrating on hospitals, healthcare technology and Catholic communications. He has also specialized in fundraising communications, ghostwriting for CEOs of local, national and global charities, nonprofits and foundations.