The life of Isaac Dixon, originally from Rothesay, was completely turned upside down on December 30, 2020.
During the third period of a game against the Edmundston Blizzard, the young 18-year-old defender of the Grand Falls Rapids took a blow and violently hit the boards while falling.
A violent fall
In a lawsuit filed last December in the Court of King’s Bench in Saint-Jean, he says he immediately felt a sharp pain in his lower back. He started screaming that he couldn’t feel his legs anymore.
When the referee stopped play, Blizzard and Rapids personnel took to the ice. Isaac Dixon allegedly then told them he thought he had broken his back and needed an ambulance.
He alleges that a Blizzard staff member asked him to get up.
Blizzard and Rapids staff did not act to call an ambulance or other medical professionals to help Isaac while he was on the ice
we read in the lawsuit notice.
Isaac Dixon was placed on a transfer board and carried to the locker room by his Grand Falls Rapids teammates.
Photo: Screenshot: HockeyTV
The young hockey player – who is now 21 – alleges in the lawsuit notice that Blizzard staff then strapped him to a transfer board using a single strap. He claims that his neck and head were not stabilized.
Isaac Dixon would then have been transported to the Grand Falls Rapids locker room. He says he once again informed the staff of both teams that he feared fainting and needed an ambulance.
He alleges that there was no ambulance at the Jean-Daigle Center in Edmundston during the game.
” While in the Rapids locker room, a Blizzard staffer approached Isaac, pulled him aside and patted his spine, telling Isaac there didn’t seem to be a problem. »
When he was transported by ambulance to the Edmundston Regional Hospital, doctors confirmed that one of his vertebrae had been fractured. He was transferred to The Moncton Hospital, where he underwent surgery to stabilize his spine.
Isaac Dixon then underwent rehabilitation treatments and was able to start playing Golf again. Six months after his injury, he participated in an amateur tournament – with the help of a motorized cart – according to Paragolf Canada.
Posts from Paragolf NB and Golf New Brunswick on social media – dating from June and July 2021 – show him standing, playing the sport.
A lawsuit targeting several organizations
Isaac Dixon is suing several people and organizations today: the Maritime Junior Hockey League, the Canadian Junior Hockey League, the Edmundston Blizzard, the Grand Falls Rapids, Jeremy Duguay (the opponent who gave him the coup), Hockey Canada and AIG Insurance Company.
He alleges that he was the victim of negligence and that the injury caused him significant problems. He is asking the Court of King’s Bench to order the parties to pay him compensation.
The lawsuit was filed in December 2022 in Saint-Jean, in the Court of King’s Bench (archives)
Photo: CBC/Hadeel Ibrahim
In his civil lawsuit, he claims that he was insured by the company AIG and that his policy provided compensation of 1.5 million dollars in the event of an injury resulting in paraplegia (ie paralysis of the legs).
He alleges that AIG refused to pay him this compensation and asks the court to declare that he is entitled to it.
The parties involved in this civil suit have notified the court that they intend to present a defence. However, they have not yet filed their statement of defence.
Lawyers for the plaintiff and the parties involved in the lawsuit did not respond to our requests for comment.
Same thing with the Edmundston Blizzard, the Grand Falls Rapids and the Maritime Junior Hockey League.
