SARASOTA, Fla. ( WWSB ) - Florida’s Second District Court of Appeal has overturned a high-profile verdict in a civil suit brought by a Venice family against Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital and ordered a new trial.

In 2023, a jury found the hospital was negligent when they reported the mother of a 10-year-old Maya Kowalski to a child abuse hotline, suspecting the mother was intentionally harming the child.

The mother, Beata Kowalski, took her own life three months after a judge ordered her to have no contact with Maya.

The jury also awarded the family $261 million in real and punitive damages.

The appeals court vacated the verdict, saying the trial court, among other things, “misinterpreted and misapplied Florida statutes, which provide immunity for good‑faith child‑abuse repo

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