ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (WWSB) – On Wednesday, October 29, Florida’s Second District Court of Appeals overturned a high-profile verdict against Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital and ordered a new trial.
Court documents said the trial court “misinterpreted and misapplied section 39.203(1)(a), Florida Statutes, which provides immunity for good‑faith child‑abuse reporting and good‑faith participation in Chapter 39 dependency proceedings.”
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“The final judgment in favor of the Kowalskis is reversed. On remand, only the IIED claim brought on behalf of Maya and the remaining false imprisonment, battery, and medical negligence claims may be retried,” Judge Black wrote for the court.
It was determined that the hospital had the authority to detain Maya Kowalski between Oct. 7 and Oct. 13, 2016, under section 39.395, which defeated that false‑imprisonment claim as a matter of law.
The opinion also decided that the claim of intentional infliction of emotional distress should not have gone before a jury, as there was a lack of evidence.
Maya’s emotional distress claim will be retried due to the trial court’s allowance of immunized conduct and evidence supporting the claim.
The court further found insufficient evidence for punitive damages on the remaining torts and insufficient proof for fraudulent billing, concluding those issues should not have been submitted to the jury.
Ethen Shapiro of Hill Ward Henderson, who represented All Children’s Hospital, said in a statement, “After careful, rigorous review of the case and the law, the Second District Court of Appeals delivered a resounding opinion in support of Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital, vacating the full $213 million judgment. This opinion sends a clear and vital message to mandatory reporters in Florida and across the country that their duty to report suspicions of child abuse and, critically, their good faith participation in child protection activities remain protected. The facts and the law have always prioritized protecting children, the most vulnerable among us. We look forward to vigorously defending our doctors, nurses, and staff in a fair trial on the few remaining claims after rigorous and proper application of immunity. We thank the judges for their time and attention to this matter, and we appreciate that they understood what many did not: that a one-sided movie is no substitute for a fair judicial process.”
What’s next: The case returns to Sarasota County Circuit Court for a new trial limited to Maya’s IIED and the remaining false imprisonment, battery, and medical negligence claims, with proper application of section 39.203(1)(a) and exclusion of immune conduct as a basis for liability.
Read the Second District Court of Appeal opinion here:
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