The family of Maya Kowalski, the subject of the 2023 Netflix documentary Take Care of Maya, is suing their former lawyers, claiming fraud and misuse of millions of dollars.
In a lawsuit filed Thursday, the Kowalski family accused Greg and Jennifer Anderson, and their law firm AndersonGlenn LLP, of “repeated violations of their professional, ethical, and fiduciary duties” while serving as their attorneys, WTSP reported.
In 2023, the Kowalskis sued Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital, alleging false imprisonment, battery and “extreme and outrageous” conduct after Maya, who was then 10, was admitted to the ICU while experiencing a flare-up of Complex Regional Pain Syndrome.
The lawsuit claimed that the hospital falsely imprisoned and battered Maya and kept her separated from her mother, Beata, whom they accused of Munchausen-by-proxy, a psychological disorder where parents fabricate their child’s illness. After 87 days of being separated from her daughter, Beata died by suicide in 2016.
The family was awarded $213 million in damages — but two years later, an appeals court reversed the judgment, saying that the original trial judge had not applied Florida law correctly to the case.
The case became a popular Netflix documentary shedding light on the situation.
In February of this year, the Kowalskis requested that the Florida Supreme Court review the appellate court’s decision. The request is still pending, per the report.
However, in the complaint filed Thursday, the Kowalskis accused the lawyers who represented them in the 2023 trial against Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital of fraud and misusing funds. The complaint claims the Andersons “improperly negotiated” an advanced funding loan for the Kowalskis before the ruling was reversed and the Andersons had used some of the loan for purported fees and costs.
The Andersons are accused of holding $4 million from the loan in a personal account that they then used as collateral for a loan used to purchase a multi-million-dollar home.
The lawsuit also claims that the fee agreement reached between the two parties violated limitations set by the Florida Bar and gave AndersonGlenn LLP an excessive percentage of the family’s settlement.
On July 13, 2023, Greg Anderson allegedly told Maya’s father over text that the firm was having financial difficulties and needed to “apply all of the settlement proceeds to the case.” However, a client trust ledger apparently showed that some of funds from the settlement from Maya’s case were used to pay for AndersonGlenn employees’ paychecks and healthcare.
The lawsuit claims the lawyers also misused the funds to buy a Freemason boat, pay credit card bills, buy hours on a private jet and a mortgage on a vacation home.
The Kowalski family incurred over $11 million in acquisition costs at the direction of the Andersons, resulting in a total debt of more than $52 million, according to court documents.
The family is accusing their former lawyers of breach of fiduciary duty, constructive fraud and equitable accounting. They are requesting a jury trial and are seeking unspecified monetary damages.
The Independent has reached out to AndersonGlenn for comment.
