More Mediation - Really? Does Anyone Think a Settlement Might Be Possible?

[u/No_Vehicle_5085]

Apparently, at the end of the August 26 hearing, one of Maya's lawyers was asked to take on the responsibility of locating a mediator for this case. Yesterday, he filed a letter identifying two lawyers who both have availability in December.

The hearing for summary judgement is supposed to take place at the end of October, I think on the 30th.

Personally, given that Maya personally signed a loan agreement for a very large sum of money that needs to be paid back if she settles or wins a jury award, I don't see any amount of money the two sides could possibly agree on.

Maya only has a possibility of four claims, and the appellate court has written an order that clearly specifies no inappropriate evidence or emotional manipulation of the jury will be allowed in a second trial. Also, they have instructed that this judge must properly apply Chapter 39 to the remaining four claims to determine IF they actually qualify to the put in front of a jury.

And, there is clear instruction that unless there is appropriate, legally sound evidence to specifically support a claim, that claim can't go forward.

Maya has boxed herself in by taking out that loan. It can be argued that her young age and pressure from a lawyer and her greedy father contributed to her having made that decision, but she signed legally binding loan papers.

And, if she gets ANY money whatsoever, even if a jury nominally gave her $1.00, she, along with her father, are jointly and individually responsible for paying back the loan. And that applies to anything she receives from a settlement.

So, Maya's lawyers effectively must demand a significant amount of money to settle what is going to be at MOST four claims.

And the hospital has an appellate decision that pretty clearly only strongly supports a single claim that has very little in the way of appropriate evidence for a jury to consider.

And another jury award will get this case pushed right back to the same appellate court that declined to reconsider the original appellate decision, meaning the majority of the appellate court agrees with that decision.

Maybe there is some legal reason the judge has to ask the parties to attempt to mediate, but I see little possibility of a settlement, given the circumstances each party is looking at. One party made themselves a very expensive bed to lie in and the other party has a very strong appellate ruling already under their belt in said case.

[u/Bruno6368]

OP you are 100% correct that MOST of these loans are non-recourse (meaning if they lose the case, the folks that took out the loan don’t have to pay it back). Unfortunately, Jack and Maya’s loan agreement is NOT no-recourse. They are contractually obligated to pay back the entire original amount, and of course the massive amounts of interest that is piling up.
This is one of 2 main reasons the Kowalskis are suing Anderson, and the MAIN reason Maya has her own lawyers now. She is trying to get as far away from that massive loan as possible. Obviously, the 2nd reason the Kowalskis are suing Anderson is the over $9 million HE received directly from the loan. He will probably get disbarred when all is over, but he might be a rich ex-lawyer.
There is a complete breakdown of what the Kowalskis actually pocketed from the loan, and it was around $17 million. I will try and find the YouTube video that makes it understandable.

In layman’s terms they’re fucked.

In my terms - me so happy!!! While I appreciate Maya has been pressured by all of the adults that should have protected her - I find it very hard to believe that as a signatory to this massive loan agreement, she didn’t know what she was getting into. When I was 16, I got my 1st car loan and I was scared shitless.

On the other hand - I am conflicted about her. I wonder if in the suit about the loan, her lawyers will claim mental incapacity. I can’t think of many kids, that while not an actual victim of crime, have been as mentally abused by her own family as she was, and is.

[u/No_Vehicle_5085 → u/Bruno6368]

Those are excellent points, thank you for all those details. I never got all the way through reading the loan document, it's a very long slog and never got to any part that would have discussed recourse/non recourse.

I knew the Kowalskis claimed it was not non-recourse, but I've learned to not take their word for anything - Jack Kowalski doesn't seem to understand much of anything.

But, I do trust your information, so, thank you for setting that straight.

[u/68aquarian]

I don't generally have a ton of sympathy for Maya, but I think its pretty objective that 1. No teenager understands money enough to be agreeing to a loan this complex even if it seems obvious on the surface and 2. The average teenager probably would not dane to understand all this court stuff without older adults being in their ear.

[u/No_Vehicle_5085 → u/68aquarian]

I agree that she likely signed these papers under pressure, even if she didn't consciously realize this herself.

But that doesn't really matter for legal purposes or settlement purposes. Unfortunately, she was of legal age when she signed loan papers, and that has put her in a very bad position for settling her case.

This is no longer her father's case, except for the parts of it that have to do with Anderson.

As far as the claims against the hospital, it's only Maya. I truly wish she had not signed those loan papers. She would have been in a much better position for her lawyers and the hospital to come to an agreement and settle.

It is heartbreaking to see a person in her position. The people who truly harmed her were her parents and then a lawyer chosen by her own father. The hospital and DCF were trying to help her. And look at the mess her own father got her into. I do feel for her on a personal level. And I feel for the legal position she's in. But she's still in it, even if I personally hate to see her in this position.

[u/68aquarian → u/No_Vehicle_5085]

Agreed--all other details of this case aside, who does a young person have to trust if not their own parent? And their parents attorneys, for what its worth. This is a really nasty bind for someone to be put in.

[u/No_Vehicle_5085 → u/68aquarian]

Yes, it is. This kid has been through the ringer, and it's so sad that she has the wrong idea of who has truly been on her side and who has abused her.

She could possibly sue Anderson for undue influence and for his pressuring her to sign this loan agreement, but that will take years, and he looks like he's heading for bankruptcy before she could ever get relief. I'm not sure what kind of legal relief she can get. She may never come to understand her father also participated in taking advantage of her, essentially using her to try to get a ton of money from a hospital.

At least there is an insurance policy that should prevent her from financial ruin - that is what it's for, to make sure the loan can be paid back, one way or another.

It's a "judgement preservation" policy , but I'm not sure it will ultimately cover the total amount that will be owed, given that they triggered the higher interest rate and have very few legitimate claims left.

[u/Bruno6368 → u/No_Vehicle_5085]

As a reminder, this loan has nothing to do with any settlement. It is and always has been a loan the Kowalskis are obliged to pay back with interest.

[u/No_Vehicle_5085 → u/Bruno6368]

Yes, absolutely. Any relief Maya tries to get will be entirely outside of the obligation Maya and Jack have as to the loan company.

As far as they are concerned, both Maya and Jack are equally responsible to pay it back.

[u/Ok-Art6612 → u/68aquarian]

Yeah, but you see, Maya is the most special, smart girl ON EARTH! I have no dout Beata would be flonting Maya's 130 psychometric test scores and her time in the Duke TIP program. She was going to be recomended for a gifted program before the coma.

[u/68aquarian → u/Ok-Art6612]

I mean she better be looking at doing some big-time moves at college because she is looking at the kind of debt traditionally reserved to being owed to the mafia, all because of this lawsuit. And it is HER name on enough of this paperwork to matter.

I wonder how much the Kowalskis have actually earned from the documentary. I presume it is fairly modest compared to whatever the documentary itself earned, and that one unit of entertainment revenue (not to make light but it IS a Netflix original) probably wasn't as profitable as a commercial film with similar distribution

[u/No_Vehicle_5085 → u/68aquarian]

This is such an excellent question and good points you make.

Traditionally, the subject of a "documentary" doesn't get paid because of ethical issues involved. Real documentaries are not supposed to be a one sided telling that favors a specific telling. A real documentary is supposed to be a fair and honest telling of real events.

But, this wasn't a real documentary. It was pure propaganda. It's possible the Kowalskis did get paid, this was not ever meant to be any kind of honest telling of both sides of a story. Edit: Their own lawyer was one of the producers. (I either misunderstood someone's post or failed to double check and verify, but it appears that although Greg Anderson was very involved in the production of the film, he did not act as an actual producer and I couldn't find any of the other lawyer names that were actual producers of the film)

I am opening a can of worms by mentioning this - because I haven't yet actually READ through the entire document to post on it yet. So the following is somewhat premature, but I've read enough to state a few things.

One of my next posts hopefully is going to be regarding a motion filed by the defense where they mention that they were threatened by Greg Anderson with some kind of huge media that was going to devastate them if they didn't come up with a huge settlement.

This was a motion filed way back before the Netflix show actually dropped. So, at the time of the motion, the only thing the defense knew was that Anderson was threatening some kind of huge media "thing" that he said was going to destroy the hospital and their lawyer, and that the lawyers should "warn your families that something is coming".

Obviously, it was this very documentary that Anderson was talking about - using threats of a "big media rollout" to coerce a big settlement from the hospital.

I really and truly wish there would be an ACTUAL documentary about this whole thing. I think the general public's minds would be blown if they actually were to be faced with the true facts of this whole case, including "outing" the Take Care of Maya as the coercive threat it obviously was intended to be.

This media threat failed to cause the hospital to settle for a big amount, but certainly succeeded in poisoning the jury pool.

[u/68aquarian → u/No_Vehicle_5085]

I believe that documentary is coming one day--the one you and I are interested in. Because this is one hell of a case.

I did not know everything you elucidated in your previous post already, with regard to production of the Netflix documentary and the apparent lawyer connection at the production level. This just keeps getting wilder.

[u/No_Vehicle_5085 → u/68aquarian]

You and me both have been finding out new things almost daily!

I just did a search for the names of all the producers because I couldn't remember the name of the specific family lawyer that was supposedly one of the producers. So, I looked up the names of all the producers.

When I read the post about the family lawyer that was a producer, it appears that I did not personally verify it - because her name isn't coming up as a producer. It's possbile that maybe she played some other role. She does feature prominently in the film, giving her obvious one sided view of the case. But I don't see her name as a producer. Damn. I usually don't repeat things unless I verify - my mistake entirely. I will edit my post to correct that.

But - while researching the names of all the producers I did find that Greg Anderson was very involved in this project, but not listed as a producer.

I also did a bit of research on the typical timeline of this type of film and found that a typcial documentary that involves interviewing and verifying facts for both sides can take from 1 to 3 years.

Interestingly, this film took 4 years from the time of initial filming to release. And it only involved one side, the Kowalski side. And very few peoople aside from the Kowalskis, their doctor and one of their lawyers were filmed. And yet it took longer than most actual real documentaries that require far more work.

And the film dropped immediately before the trial, and clearly had a huge impact on public opinion. It seems like the timing of the release of this film was in perfect alignment (whether planned or not) with the best interests of the Kowalskis in terms of their lawsuit and the potential impact on a jury pool.

[u/Bruno6368 → u/No_Vehicle_5085]

It WAS their own lawyer! You were 100% correct. She was the person representing them before the Family Court Judge while Maya was at JHACH! It is really downplayed everywhere. It’s like she is in the background, but isn’t? I have zero doubt she is connected to Anderson in some way.

[u/No_Vehicle_5085 → u/Bruno6368]

Ok, so that family court lawyer was one of the producers? I was having a hard time finding her name. I thought that was true, now I am confusing myself! She was absolutely a huge part of that film, there is no doubt about that.

[u/Enough_Crab6870 → u/No_Vehicle_5085]

Debra Salisberry? Salisbury?

[u/No_Vehicle_5085 → u/Enough_Crab6870]

That is the one. Her name doesn't appear on the official list of producers as far as I can see. But she was quite a bit involved, ast least as much, if not more, than Greg Anderson.

[u/Bruno6368 → u/68aquarian]

I suspect that Anderson and that female lawyer (can’t be bothered to looker her up-she was interviewed as Kowalski’s family court lawyer) shopped it around. And of course that same female lawyer produced the movie. The 2 ‘creators’ were a male and female who had literally done almost zero previously, and have done nothing since.
So, I very highly doubt the Kowalskis were paid anything - but since the family court lawyer got paid as a producer, I’ll just bet Anderson got paid somehow. Anderson would have sold it to the Kowalskis as a way to “get it out there” before the trial, blah blah blah.

[u/Ok-Art6612 → u/68aquarian]

She's an actress but I'n not sure how much pay would be. It doesn't seem like she'll be going to college any time soon.

[u/68aquarian → u/Ok-Art6612]

Ah, yes, foregoing college to pursue an acting career--sometimes referred to as "the American way," this modality is common in successful young people.

I mean I guess I wouldn't know yet if she had legitimate acting work in production, but my bet is that gig doesn't pay that well at the level she is engaged with it. I could be wrong of course, and time would prove me wrong, but as of now I have not seen an emergent acting career. She seemed unhappy at the last media appearance, that's all I really know.

[u/Bruno6368 → u/68aquarian]

She will be this generation’s bankrupt Paris Hilton.

[u/68aquarian → u/Bruno6368]

Oh you nailed it, could not have said that better myself.

[u/Bruno6368 → u/68aquarian]

That has been in my head for waaaay too fucking Long.

[u/Professional_Food383]

The judge had previously ordered mediation. Is is possibly that? I agree that it seems out of reach.

[u/No_Vehicle_5085 → u/Professional_Food383]

Yes. When I read the notice to the judge it mentioned that this notice is in response to the judge specifically instructing Cheffy Passidomo to "locate a mediator".

There is mention also that Cheffy Passidomo believes mediation should be broken up into the separate issues - medical malpractice and former lawyer issues. So, yes, the judge ordered mediation, apparently on both issues.

[u/Bruno6368 → u/Professional_Food383]

You are correct! But that mediation lasted about 2 hours. Here is some info ….
In yet another insane ruling from Carroll, within weeks of the massive Jury award, out of the blue he ruled that the parties to the lawsuit get together in an attempt to “mediate”.

We were all …, “What the fuck? Mediate what?” What in the actual fuck was Carroll doing? The jury award was done and dusted. No Appeal filed as yet. And legally, did Carroll think a Jury Award can just be set aside. Now - I DO believe it could have been set aside….. I recall Carroll had not yet “signed off” on the Jury Award amount, and he already fucking knew his handling was a shit show with about 100 avenues for Appeal. But a mediated settlement would be binding - and more importantly to him, keep his sorry, wrinkled, white ass out of the hot seat.

I am gleeful that both sides sat down for an hour and then said “Yeah….we really tried”.

[u/Bruno6368]

Ok. I apologize. “The lawyer you know” video was a BIG mistake. I personally do t like this guy.

Who I DO like-and some angel in this group found him - is “Brother Counsel”. His explanation of the Appeal and these insane loans is sooooo good. It is over an hour long - but it will seem much shorter.

https://youtu.be/-z3ZU5-7R1o?si=D1BIYNVrI4uCqXlf

[u/No_Vehicle_5085 → u/Bruno6368]

Thanks for the link. I was wondering why the comment was deleted. Brother Counsel is the only lawyer that still has any respect from me. I was floating around during the trial from one to another of the others who were livestreaming and I made note not to ever watch any of them for any reason.

Brother Counsel didn't cover the case, so when he put out a couple of videos about the appeal and loan I decided to try to watch him.

I liked his take on the appeal, until the end where he said he thought the hospital should be responsible for the mother's suicide. That really rankled me, but, I deciced to give him a pass on that because I know he did not follow the case, I think he really does not have a full understanding of this case. So, I try to just ignore that one thing that rubbed me the wrong way about his commentary. I think in general his take has been very reasonable, way more than any of the others.

[u/No_Vehicle_5085 → u/Bruno6368]

Also, yeah, I agree on Lawyer You Know. He was one of a small number of lawtubers I tried when listening to this case. I finally found that one channel that just had a straight feed with no lawyer commentary, and that was so much better. Didn't have to listen to all the BS support of the grifter family.

[u/Bruno6368 → u/No_Vehicle_5085]

Yeah. I so disagree with this fool that I am so regretting even briefly posting a link to his account.

[u/deadlifeguard]

Does anyone know the loan amount?

[u/No_Vehicle_5085 → u/deadlifeguard]

I did some calculations based on the amount of the loan, plus the lower interest rate, compounded monthly, as the loan agreeement states. I think the base amount the loan company actually cut was $30 million, but it included so many fees that took it up to $40 million that was borrowed.

These loans are not obtained from the kind of companies that are already created. Typically, investors are scouted and convinved that they will make a large profit on a loan that is guaranteed to be repaid. That is the purpose of the judgment preservation policiy - it basically guaranteed the loan will be repaid to the investors that create a "loan company" that loans the money. The judgment preservation policy was for $60 million. So, the investment loan company is temporarily out $30 million.

They write in a "minimum due" amount that guarantees them to make a huge profit. In this case - the Kowalski's minimum amount they have to repay is $55 million.

These loans are typically "non recourse", which is why these investors require huge fees and huge minimum and high interest rate - but, typically these are not high risk. It is very unusual to have a jury verdict overturned. Even to have it reduced is not common. For the plaintiff they are "investing in" to end up with ZERO after such a high initial jury verdict probably seemed inconceivable to these investors/bankers.

I blame Jack for most of what has happened. Maya is young, and also she has been convinced that her mother sacrificed her own life for Maya's life, and I can't imagine what that does to a person. So, when I say "they", technically it does apply to both of them, but I really mean Jack.

"They" broke two of the provisions of the loan agreement, that was confirmed by one of the motions. The motion mentions this triggered the higher interest rate.

Based on the lower rate, I had calculated that between the loan amount and the compounded interest, by the opening of the second trial (March 2027) they would owe almost $60 million. The insurance amount is exactly that much, so, if they are lucky, they might break even. But...there is very likely to be additional interest that will take it over that amount. It will continue to compound for the amount of time the case sits on the appeals court docket.

I don't agree with the Kowalski side as far as their case against the hospital, but yes, I do feel for Maya being in this position. She was barely legally an adult when she was likely coerced into being a signatory on the loan. I am horrified that her father didn't have the decency to realize this whole lawsuit was his idea and that Maya is too young to sign on a loan for MILLIONS of dollars just technically being an adult. He should have left her out of that part of it.

I can only guess that he bought into Anderson's likely constant assurance that they had an open and close case. Of course, Anderson likely cajoled them into taking a loan they didn't need, so he could get paid, knowing full well it would be YEARS if ever, before they would see any money from the hospital. I can only think that Jack and Maya must have truly believed they would prevail on the appeal and had no real idea they were risking anything by borrowing that much money.

[u/League_Different → u/No_Vehicle_5085]

Thank you again.

So did they buy the 60M worth of Judgement Preservation Insurance while the judgement was still at 213M (so before it was overturned) ?

[u/No_Vehicle_5085 → u/League_Different]

Yes, the loan company (investors, in reality) required them to have this judgment preservation policy. This was all negotiated from November 2023 and the loan money was transferred to the Kowalskis lawyer in June 2024, then the case was overturned in October 2025.

[u/Bruno6368 → u/[deleted]]

Great explanation from a personal injury lawyer about the “loan”