A judge has allowed lawyers representing Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital to question a juror in the Maya Kowalski trial after they cited juror misconduct.
Judge Hunter Carroll ruled on Wednesday that lawyers representing the hospital can subpoena juror Paul Lengyel to appear in court on January 3 for a hearing.
The hospital, which was found to have falsely imprisoned and battered Kowalski, had accused Lengyel of violating strict conduct rules during proceedings.
Lengyel had served as juror No. 1 on a six-person jury that decided last month that Johns Hopkins had falsely imprisoned and battered Kowalski, 17.
Kowalski was awarded over $260 million after she won her lawsuit against the hospital in November.
Netflix 's Maya Kowalski filed a criminal complaint claiming she was 'sexually abused at Johns Hopkins All Children's hospital' after winning a landmark lawsuit against the Florida facility for more than $261 million in damages
Lawyers representing the hospital, seen here, can subpoena juror Paul Lengyel to appear in court on January 3 for a hearing
Maya's mom, Beata, (right) took her own life after she was diagnosed with a depressive mood and adjustment disorder upon being separated from Maya for almost three months
The hospital was found to have falsely imprisoned and battered Maya Kowalski, seen here, in November
According to the Tampa Bay Times, questions for Lengyel will be limited to touch on four issues that have been raised by attorneys for the hospital.
This will include whether or not Lengyel shared information about the case with his wife Yolanda who then posted it on social media.
Lawyers representing the hospital say that Yolanda, attended at least one day of the trial in Venice, meaning she could have heard attorney discussions with the judge that were made outside of the jury's presence.
Previous court documents state that Yolanda Lengyel posted on live YouTube feeds of the trial and in a Facebook chat group largely supportive of the Kowalski family.
She is also accused of meeting with a social media influencer known as Jules, who, the motion states, is connected to the Kowalski family.
It cites as evidence a video Jules posted on her TikTok page stating that she gave Maya Kowalski her rosary beads before Maya's live testimony on October 9.
Yolanda also allegedly discussed on social media questions her husband intended to ask of witnesses and about a juror note sent while the jury was deliberating.
A motion in the case seen by abc7 reads: 'Much of Defendant's initial motion focuses on the alleged actions of Juror #1′s spouse.
'Defendant's motion states that Juror #1′s spouse attended the trial on October 30, 2023.
'Defendant points to screen captures from the media feed that depict a woman believed to be Juror #1′s spouse talking with another person in the gallery, whom Defendant identifies as 'Jules,' who apparently has her own on-line show on TikTok and who would call into other online programs on YouTube.'
For eight weeks, jurors heard from the Kowalskis, doctors, nurses and experts in the $220 million lawsuit that was the focus of the harrowing Netflix documentary 'Take Care of Maya'
The now 17-year-old was diagnosed with complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) aged 9, but was taken to hospital with severe pain Oct 2016, aged 10
Defense lawyers had previously attached a filing to their motion for a new trial with notes allegedly from Lengyel.
In it, they claimed that Lengyel compared Dr Sally Smith to a Nazi Germany organization who they claimed he had an extreme dislike of.
In the note, each time Sally Smith is mentioned the letter S at the beginning of each name is written differently than any of the other S's on the page.
'Juror No. 1 has printed letter 'S' throughout the note normally, with a curve in the spine, EXCEPT that he printed his 'S' with sharp angles when printing Dr. Sally Smith's name,' the second supplemental motion reads.
'Both the second and third times that Juror No. 1 prints Dr. Sally Smith's name, the letter 'S' is shaped in a manner identical to the symbol of the Nazi Schutzstaffel.'
In the order issued this week however, this claim made by the hospital attorneys has been dismissed.
Maya Kowalski hugs her attorney Nick Whitney after a jury awarded her family more than $200 million on Thursday, Nov. 9, 2023
The Florida hospital hadclaimed that Lengyel had extreme dislike of one of the defense witnesses, a hospital employee named Sally Smith (pictured)
Exhibit A is a piece of notebook paper with notes from 'Juror No. 1' in which every time Sally Smith is mentioned the letter S at the beginning of each name is written differently than any of the other S's on the page
Maya, 17, was just 10, when she was removed by the state after doctors accused her parents of faking symptoms for her rare condition - complex regional pain syndrome.
The jury found the emotional distress caused to her mother Beata Kowalski - who was forbidden from seeing her daughter for three months - led to her suicide in 2017.
The case gained national and international attention, after it was popularized in a Netflix documentary film.
At the conclusion of the trial Maya, her father Jack and brother Kyle broke down in tears as the jury's findings were read out at the court in St. Petersburg.
Jurors found the children's hospital liable for false imprisonment of Maya, battery of Maya, fraudulent billing of her father Jack; inflicting emotional distress on Beata; wrongful death claim for the estate of Beata; and intentionally inflicting emotional distress on Maya.
The family argued that the grief-stricken mom fell into a depression and ultimately hanged herself in the family garage, but Johns Hopkins had vehemently denied that it caused her death or abused Maya.
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