Defendants post bonds in $11.9 million jail suicide judgment

Feb. 26--Defendants in a Monroe County Correctional Facility wrongful death suit posted almost $14 million in bonds in lieu of an $11.9 million judgment in favor of the victim's estate.

A federal jury in Scranton found PrimeCare, Inc., the medical provider for the jail, liable for negligence, deliberate indifference and punitive damages in the death of Mumun Barbaros at the jail in 2009, according to court documents. The company posted a $13.3 million bond against a $10.1 million judgment. Barbaros was 46 at the time of his death. The jury held PrimeCare liable for $8 million in punitive damages alone.

The bonds prevent immediate collection of the judgment, giving defendants PrimeCare, Inc. and Dr. Alex Thomas time to raise an appeal.

Mumun, the owner of a restaurant in Mountainhome, was being held at the correctional facility on charges that he vandalized competing pizzerias in the area. The suit alleged that the jail withheld his anti-psychotic medications during his incarceration, and the jail failed to properly monitor him as a suicide risk.

The jury also found Thomas liable for $771,469 for negligence and deliberate indifference. Four nurses and two administrators were found liable for various amounts ranging between $154,294 and $192,869 for the same claims. Thomas posted a bond of $600,000.

Monroe County, the jail and some of its employees were initially named in the lawsuit. The county settled the suit for $25,000 before the trial began, claiming it had no way of knowinhg about Barbaros' health. The county also claimed it was covered by immunity extended to governmental agencies. The jail is owned and operated by the county.

Barbaros stood accused of several acts against competing restaurants, including damaging several propane tanks, phone lines, an electrical box and smashed windows in 2008 and 2009. The former Barrett Township Police set up a stakeout at one of the restaurants, and caught Barbaros fleeing the scene after it suspected he vandalized the building one night in 2009.

Barbaros was the owner of the Continental Grill in Canadensis. He was taken to Monroe County Correctional Facility and committed suicide during his pretrial detention.

After a search of his residence, police found evidence linking Barbaros to a March 2008 fire that destroyed another area restaurant, Kasa's Pizzeria in Paradise Township, a year earlier. Along with the county, Barbaros' widow named the correctional facility; then Warden Donna Asure; some of the correctional facility's officers; the facility's medical provider, PrimeCare Medical Inc.; and several of its nurses and doctors individually in the lawsuit.

Barbaros was initially screened by a doctor and nurse at the jail.

When he went through an intake evaluation, PrimeCare staff said a suicide watch wasn't necessary, according to Gerald Geiger, an attorney representing the county, prior to the trial. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, known as HIPAA, prevented the county from knowing of Barbaro's health needs.

Barbaros killed himself in his cell by stuffing strips of a t-shirt down his throat.

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