Claiming possible jury misconduct, attorneys for Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital in Florida have filed a motion for retrial.
The attorneys base the claim on the possibility a juror’s spouse posted confidential information about the trial to social media while the trial was underway.
The trial ended with a jury awarding $261 million to Maya Kowalski and her family Nov. 9.
The case is well known to the American public thanks to a Netflix documentary, “Take Care of Maya,” which drew millions of viewers after premiering last June, and to heavy media coverage of the trial and its aftermath.
According to readings of the motion by the Tampa Bay Times and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, the problematic behaviors exhibited by the juror’s spouse included meeting with a social media influencer sympathetic to the Kowalski family.
The Johns Hopkins attorneys are seeking to interview the juror’s spouse and the juror himself. They’re also requesting a court action ordering the couple to save texts, emails, posts and any other electronic communications either one sent or posted about the trial.
In overseas coverage of the case posted Nov. 25, the U.K. newspaper Daily Mail quotes the motion filed by the Hopkins attorneys. This reads, in part:
“The evidence reveals a shocking level of involvement in the case and palpable bias in favor of plaintiffs on the part of Juror No. 1’s wife … as well as social media posts sharing ‘inside’ information [the juror’s spouse] could only have obtained from her husband.”
The Hopkins lawyers have called the $261 million judgment “patently excessive.”
The hospital’s CFO has suggested that, if left unadjusted, the tab could jeopardize the institution’s financial stability.
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.