Deputy hurt in off-duty brawl sues insurer for cutting disability payments

A former Spokane County Sheriff’s detective seriously injured in an off-duty brawl in 2013 is suing Cigna Health Insurance for discontinuing his disability payments.

Dale Toliver and his attorney, Kathleen Paukert, claim Cigna breached its long-term disability contract when it stopped payment after two years, according to court documents.

The lawsuit also claims Cigna violated the Consumer Protection Act when it stopped making payments to Toliver in April.

“Defendants justified their denial of payments without completing a proper analysis of Mr. Toliver’s disability,” the lawsuit states. “This failure to properly investigate Mr. Toliver’s disability constitutes bad faith and negligent investigation.”

Both Paukert and Cigna declined to comment on the case.

According to the lawsuit, Toliver, 50, was unable to return to work after a physical altercation on May 12, 2013, due to the severity of his injuries, which included traumatic brain injury and “the removal of an eyeball.”

Toliver also sustained a brain injury in 2008 after a motorcycle accident, according to court documents, as well as a variety of injuries while in the Navy, including several concussions and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Toliver resigned three months after the brawl in which he was charged for assault and domestic violence. He later pleaded guilty to fourth-degree assault and fourth-degree domestic violence, according to Lincoln County court records.

Court documents say Toliver had been drinking around a campfire at a barn party near Odessa, Washington, when he saw his girlfriend get into a pickup truck with another man. Toliver allegedly opened the driver’s side door and hit his girlfriend with a heavy-duty flashlight, then hit the other man in the face.

Toliver was severely injured when the other man grabbed a stick and knocked him to the ground, authorities said at the time.