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Cloudy skies early, followed by partial clearing. High 19F. Winds WNW at 10 to 20 mph..
A mostly clear sky. Low -3F. Winds NW at 5 to 10 mph.
Updated: January 12, 2024 @ 2:33 am
Serving Sun Valley, Ketchum, Hailey, Bellevue and Carey
January 12, 2024
Brian Galbraith is due back in court in Hailey for a four-day jury trial starting on Feb. 20 for the criminal charges against him. A civil case against the former dentist is set to be taken up by 5th District Judge Ned Williamson on March 4.
Brian Galbraith is due back in court in Hailey for a four-day jury trial starting on Feb. 20 for the criminal charges against him. A civil case against the former dentist is set to be taken up by 5th District Judge Ned Williamson on March 4.
Editor’s note: This story discusses allegations of domestic violence and animal abuse. Reader discretion is advised. For help in the Wood River Valley, call The Advocates at 208-788-6070.
A longtime Ketchum dentist is facing new allegations of permanent disfigurement, trauma and animal abuse in a personal-injury lawsuit filed in 5th District Court late last year.
Blaine County resident Andrea Cavanaugh filed on Nov. 29, 2023, a complaint and demand for a jury trial, in which she requested at least $20,000 in compensation for physical harm and emotional distress.
Cavanaugh’s civil complaint cites 10 instances of battery allegedly perpetrated against her by her former husband, Brian Galbraith, between 2010 and 2023. The allegations include an incident in 2013 that resulted in Cavanaugh’s hospitalization and Galbraith’s arrest, both of which are reflected in police records.
Cavanaugh, 48, is the reported victim in a felony domestic violence case filed last February by Blaine County Prosecutor Matt Fredback.
Galbraith, 49, is a registered dentist with a general dentistry license expiring in October 2024 and no history of disciplinary action, according to Idaho Board of Dentistry records. He sold his Ketchum practice, Sun Valley Dental, in 2023, after working there for 18 years; the office is now under new ownership with three new dentists, according to its website.
According to a police report filed in support of Galbraith’s arrest on Feb. 4, 2023, he allegedly caused numerous “traumatic” injuries to Cavanaugh at their Hailey home that day, including a shattered jaw, broken arm and broken teeth. The couple’s minor children reported seeing Galbraith grab Cavanaugh by the neck, slam her onto a concrete floor in the garage, choke her, strike her and stomp on her face, and unsuccessfully “tried to call 911 from their iPad tablets,” police said. The children also reported that Galbraith prevented their mother from calling 911. Galbraith was subsequently charged with felony attempted strangulation, felony domestic violence and misdemeanor phone interference.
On Feb. 9, 5th District Magistrate Judge Jennifer Haemmerle entered a no-contact order protecting Cavanaugh and the children and ordered Galbraith to surrender several firearms to police. Galbraith violated the protection order on March 6, 2023, by allegedly harassing Cavanaugh as she drove south down state Highway 75. He entered not-guilty pleas to all four charges last year through his attorney, Gerald Bublitz, starting with misdemeanor phone interference on Feb. 5 and misdemeanor violation of a protection order on March 6. He pleaded not guilty to felony attempted strangulation and felony domestic battery on May 2. The misdemeanor charges carry up to two years in county jail, while Galbraith will face up to 35 years in state prison if convicted on both felony counts.
Cavanaugh’s recent 11-page civil lawsuit filed by her attorney, Scot Graf, paints a pattern of escalating violence in the years leading up to Galbraith’s second arrest in 2023.
The document’s allegations start in the summer of 2010, when Galbraith allegedly “picked up and threw” the family dog, an “elderly poodle,” across the former couple’s master bedroom and “threw” Cavanaugh—who was “over four months pregnant at the time”—to the floor. Galbraith then allegedly “got on top of” her and punched her, spraining her jaw, Graf stated. He added that Cavanaugh took photos of the bruising but Galbraith allegedly deleted them.
The lawsuit next asserts an instance in the spring of 2012, when Galbraith allegedly became enraged after their toddler “put something in [Galbraith’s] face and hurt his nose.” He “broke a glass in the sink, grabbed [Cavanaugh] by the wrists and pushed her across the kitchen,” Graf stated.
The lawsuit goes on to allege two instances of battery in 2013. In January of that year, Galbraith allegedly bruised Cavanaugh’s arms and wrists “by grabbing them aggressively,” and in September 2013 he allegedly “threw [her] down hard on her back” and “across the kitchen island and down onto the concrete floor,” where she allegedly realized she had landed on a paring knife.
“Defendant drove her to the Emergency Room [for stitches]. Defendant was then arrested,” the complaint states. Court records show that Galbraith was charged with misdemeanor domestic battery in front of their children on Sept. 8, 2013, and released from jail on $2,500 bail. The case was dismissed two months later on request.
The lawsuit skips ahead to the spring of 2017 when the family was dining at a restaurant. Galbraith allegedly “loudly swore” at Cavanaugh at the table, “shoved” her when she stood up and again loudly swore at her to “get out of the way,” Graf stated.
In the summer of 2018, the lawsuit alleges that Galbraith pushed Cavanaugh with his “body and chest” and grabbed her “by the throat and slammed her against the wall” in front of their children. He grabbed Cavanaugh and “threw her down on the ground in front of the parties’ children” in a separate incident that summer, the complaint alleges.
Two years later, in the summer of 2020, Galbraith allegedly berated one of the children and Cavanaugh, grabbing her “by the wrists and [shoving her] down on their bedroom floor,” Graf wrote. He wrote that the force “made Plaintiff’s head and neck whip back” and that she suffered bruising.
The timeline of alleged abuse advances to the fall of 2021, when the family was at a pool in Blaine County. Galbraith allegedly “threw a floatie at” Cavanaugh, hitting her in the face,” the complaint alleges, but when Cavanaugh threw the floatie back to Galbraith, he allegedly became enraged and “grabbed [her] by her arms … picked [her] up and threw [her] down into a pool chair.”
The lawsuit alleges two final instances of assault and battery in the spring of 2022 and in early 2023. In the first instance, Galbraith allegedly “got angry with Plaintiff and dumped his entire milkshake on Plaintiff” while berating her. In the second instance, he allegedly “spit in Plaintiff’s face,” “pushed her,” “towered over” her and “shoved” his middle finger in her face.
The complaint alleges that the family was in the living room on Feb. 4, 2023, when Cavanaugh asked if Galbraith could “scratch her back” and he “turned towards Plaintiff with a strange look of hatred, contempt and annoyance … and responded, “I’ll scratch your back if you scratch mine.”
“Defendant’s tone … made her feel like something was off,” Graf stated. Galbraith then allegedly insulted Cavanaugh and left the room, prompting her to follow him into the garage and “profusely” apologize, the lawsuit states. Cavanaugh tripped over a stool in the garage, further angering Galbraith, Graf wrote.
“Defendant then jumped up angrily and started … choking her,” the complaint states. “Defendant dragged her backwards toward her car, still choking Plaintiff, and slammed Plaintiff’s head against her car, leaving a dent in the car. … [Galbraith] slammed [her] down on her back on the floor and slammed her head against the concrete.” Unbeknownst to Galbraith, one child was watching this first part of the attack, the lawsuit states.
“Defendant left Plaintiff on the floor stunned, frightened, and hurt as [he] retreated into their house. Plaintiff was in shock and … dizzy and nauseous,” Graf wrote.
According to the lawsuit, Cavanaugh attempted to find her phone inside and call 911 but realized Galbraith had pocketed her phone, and he told her that she would “not [be] going anywhere.”
“The Defendant turned to the parties’ minor children and [crudely and sexually denigrated]” Cavanaugh, the lawsuit states.
The second part of the alleged attack inside the home allegedly began when Cavanaugh started searching for her car keys. Galbraith allegedly choked her, punched her and knocked her to the ground, where he “began non-stop punching, kicking and stomping on” Cavanaugh “for several minutes,” Graf stated. Both children screamed for Galbraith to stop but he ignored them, the lawsuit states. One child “tried to call 911 from [their] iPad and Gizmo watch, but was unsuccessful,” Graf wrote.
At that point, Cavanaugh realized that her jaw, teeth and arm were broken and she could not breathe due to blood filling her airway, the documents state. After remembering that she had left her keys in the car, she “grabbed a hand towel …. to catch the blood as it poured out of her mouth and [told her children] to get in the car as fast as they could. … They drove away from their house, leaving Defendant behind,” Graf stated.
Inside the St. Luke’s Wood River Emergency Department, “the receptionist asked Plaintiff if she was attacked by an animal,” the lawsuit reads. “The parties’ [child] responded, ‘No, it was her husband.’”
The complaint states that Cavanaugh suffered an ulnar shaft fracture, a shattered jaw, three broken teeth, a concussion, severed facial nerves and “bruises and scrapes all over.” She was transferred to Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center in Boise for “emergency” surgery to repair her jaw, it states.
“The surgeon stated that Plaintiff’s nerves were severed. … Plaintiff would likely not regain feeling in her lower lip and chin area,” Graf wrote.
Cavanaugh’s complaint states she “bears permanent disfigurement due to the brutal assault” and continues to suffer continuous mouth pain when eating and speaking, numbness in her fingers due to her broken arm, “intense daily migraines” due to her concussion, and post-traumatic-stress disorder.
“The symptoms of Plaintiff’s PTSD include, but are not limited to, loss of sleep, hypervigilance, flashbacks, severe fear and anxiety,” the lawsuit states.
Cavanaugh also incurred significant medical and counseling bills and lost income due to her injuries, it says.
On Dec. 28, 2023, Galbraith—through his attorney, Jeremy Rausch—moved to dismiss Cavanaugh’s lawsuit on the grounds that she had made “near identical” allegations in her February 2023 petition for divorce, which she filed over “extreme cruelty.”
“Brian requests the Court to dismiss the Complaint and Demand for Jury Trial on the grounds of pending action between the same parties,” Rausch stated. “The [civil] case contains the same parties concerning the same facts for the same cause surrounding the alleged events of February 4, 2023.”
He added that it’s “inefficient and costly” for a civil case to proceed on top of a divorce action.
“It would be imprudent of this Court to allow [Cavanaugh] to take up more of the Court’s time by filing and maintaining multiple actions that contain substantially the same facts and similar demands for money,” he stated.
Rausch further argued that the remedies in both civil matters are similar.
“In sum, the divorce seeks not only all Brian has, but what he will have in the future,” he stated. “This current tort case similarly seeks a judgment against him that will not be collectible for more than all he has.”
Galbraith was initially jailed on $100,000 bail in Ada County, which he posted on Feb. 7, court records show. Following his March arrest, he was held without bail for one day before Haemmerle reset his bail at $200,000. Galbraith again posted that full amount.
For his criminal charges, Galbraith is due back in court in Hailey for a four-day jury trial starting on Feb. 20; the civil case is scheduled to be taken up by 5th District Judge Ned Williamson on March 4.
ejones@mtexpress.com
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