PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "In its October opinion, the appellate court concluded that the trial court properly granted the hospital immunity under Chapter 39 of Florida law, which protects good-faith reports of suspected child abuse."
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STORY: "$213M Maya Award Reversal Stands as Florida Court Shuts Door on Rehearing," by Rihem Akkouche, published by USA Herald on January 6, 2026.
GIST: "Like a gavel echoing for a second time, a Florida appeals court on Monday refused to revisit its decision undoing a $213 million verdict against a St. Petersburg hospital in the closely watched case tied to the Netflix documentary “Take Care of Maya.”
The Florida Second District Court of Appeal denied a request from Maya Kowalski to reconsider its October ruling that reversed the massive judgment against Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital.
The earlier decision wiped away a jury award that had favored the Kowalski family, who say hospital staff’s handling of Maya during a three-month stay beginning in late 2016 contributed to the suicide of her mother, Beata Kowalski.
Appeals Court Holds the Line
Immunity Ruling at the Core
In its October opinion, the appellate court concluded that the trial court properly granted the hospital immunity under Chapter 39 of Florida law, which protects good-faith reports of suspected child abuse.
But the panel said the trial veered off course when jurors were exposed to what it called “significant and inflammatory testimony” about restrictions imposed by the dependency court after Maya was removed from her parents’ custody and required to remain at the hospital.
While the court acknowledged that statutory immunity does not shield bad-faith conduct, it said the record contained no evidence showing the hospital carried out the dependency court’s orders in anything other than good faith.
“We agree that the trial court’s rulings on Section 39.203(1)(a) immunity permeated the entire trial,” the court wrote in October, ordering a new trial on all claims not otherwise resolved by its opinion."
The entire story can be read at:
https://usaherald.com/213m-maya-award-reversal-stands-as-florida-court-shuts-door-on-rehearing/
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue/resource. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at: http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith. Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at: http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com. Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog.
SEE BREAKDOWN OF SOME OF THE ON-GOING INTERNATIONAL CASES (OUTSIDE OF THE CONTINENTAL USA) THAT I AM FOLLOWING ON THIS BLOG, AT THE LINK BELOW: HL:
https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/120008354894645705/4704913685758792985
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FINAL WORD: (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases): "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices."
Lawyer Radha Natarajan:
Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;
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FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions. They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true!
Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;
