A Florida court case that was the subject of the Netflix documentary Take Care of Maya has seen its defendants ask for a retrial.
Two weeks ago, a jury awarded $261 million in damages against Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital. The court documents claimed 10-year-old Maya Kowalski was falsely imprisoned and battered by the medical team at All Children’s Hospital, and that contributed to her mother, Beata Kowalski’s, death by suicide.
The All Children’s attorneys filed for a retrial on Wednesday. Their request claimed that the jury foreman violated strict conduct rules during the trial.
Take Care of Maya was viewed almost 14 million times in two weeks following its June release.
Hospital attorneys claimed juror Paul Lengyel shared information about the case with his wife during the trial. She, in turn, shared it on social media platforms. Yolanda Lengyel also attended at least one day of the trial in Venice. That means she was privy to attorney discussions with the judge that were made outside of the jury’s presence.
During the trial, Yolanda Lengyel frequently posted YouTube feeds of the trial and in a Facebook chat group largely supportive of the Kowalski family. She also allegedly revealed questions her husband intended to ask witnesses and the contents of a juror note sent during deliberations.
Jurors were ordered not to talk about the case or to read media coverage of the trial. The motion for a retrial also asks for an investigation of Lengyel to identify other possible misconduct.
Nick Whitney, one of the attorneys who represented the Kowalski family, said they will be filing a response by Monday at 4 p.m. He declined to comment further.