Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital is seeking to further narrow Maya Kowalski’s lawsuit, arguing that Florida law protects it from liability for actions taken during the child abuse investigation at the center of Netflix’s Take Care of Maya documentary.
In an October 30, 2026, filing, the hospital asked a Florida state judge to apply those protections to the remaining claims after an appeals court overturned a $213 million judgment in favor of Kowalski’s family.
Florida’s Second District Court of Appeal ruled in October 2025 that the trial judge had improperly limited protections available to people and institutions that report suspected child abuse in good faith and participate in authorized child welfare proceedings. The court also found that Johns Hopkins could not be held liable for certain actions taken under court orders.
The appellate judges concluded that the hospital was legally authorized to detain Maya during the initial investigation in October 2016. They also rejected claims involving her mother’s death and alleged fraudulent billing while allowing a narrower group of allegations to return to the trial court.
Maya’s remaining claims include intentional infliction of emotional distress, false imprisonment, battery and medical negligence. Before another jury hears them, the trial judge must determine how much of the hospital’s conduct is protected by Florida’s child abuse reporting and child welfare laws.
The legal battle began when Maya, then 10, was admitted to Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg, Florida, for treatment of complex regional pain syndrome, a condition that causes severe, persistent pain.
Hospital staff questioned the ketamine treatments she had been receiving and reported suspected medical child abuse to Florida’s Department of Children and Families. A dependency court later placed Maya in state custody at the hospital, where she remained for approximately three months under orders restricting contact with her family.
Her mother, Beata Kowalski, died by suicide in January 2017 during the separation. The family’s experience later became the subject of the 2023 Netflix documentary Take Care of Maya.
The Kowalski family sued the hospital, alleging that its staff unlawfully detained Maya, subjected her to mistreatment and caused severe emotional harm. In November 2023, a Sarasota County jury awarded the family approximately $261 million in damages, later reduced to about $213 million.
Johns Hopkins challenged the verdict, arguing that jurors had been allowed to hold the hospital responsible for conduct protected by Florida’s child abuse reporting laws. The appeals court agreed that the trial judge’s handling of immunity affected the case and ordered a new trial on the surviving claims.
The court also found insufficient evidence to support several other verdicts, including claims involving Beata Kowalski’s death. The family asked the Florida Supreme Court to review the ruling, but the court declined on August 4, 2026, leaving the reversal in place.
Johns Hopkins is now asking the trial judge to apply the appeals court’s immunity ruling to what remains of the case. The next decision will shape which allegations Maya and her family can present to a jury when the litigation returns for a new trial.
