The family of Canadian heavyweight Tim Hague, who died two days after suffering a brain hemorrhage in an Edmonton boxing match two years ago, filed a multimillion-dollar lawsuit Friday alleging that a city sports official was criminally negligent for allowing Hague to fight. The suit also accuses the referee, ring doctors, the city and other defendants of inadequately protecting and caring for Hague before, during and after the bout.
Hague, 34, died June 18, 2017, less than 48 hours after enduring four knockdowns and a second-round TKO – it was his third straight boxing defeat and left his record at 1-3. He also had a 21-13 record in a decade as an MMA fighter, including 1-4 in UFC.
Just two months before he faced Adam Braidwood in that final, fatal fight, Hague was knocked out by Jared Kilkenny 40 seconds into an MMA-boxing hybrid “Super Boxing” event. Braidwood, on the other hand, entered the ring against Hague with a 7-1 record and is now 13-2.
The Edmonton Combative Sports Commission sanctioned Hague as a replacement opponent for Braidwood two weeks before their bout, when the scheduled opponent pulled out. But under ECSC rules, Hague was subject to a suspension from competition after his April 7, 2017 knockout by Kilkenny — his third combative sports loss by KO or TKO in less than 12 months — that would have made him ineligible for the Braidwood matchup on June 16.
The wrongful death lawsuit filed Friday, less than two weeks before the deadline to initiate such a claim, describes Hague as having been “grossly outmatched” by Braidwood, a former defensive end for Washington State and the Canadian Football League’s Edmonton Eskimos.
The suit seeks at least five million Canadian dollars (more than $4 million US) in compensatory and punitive damages and accuses defendant Pat Reid, then the ECSC executive director, of actions that were “criminally negligent, as he showed a wanton or reckless disregard for the life and safety of Tim Hague.” According to the filing, Reid and the commission failed to properly monitor and consider Hague’s record and medical history and apply mandated suspensions, even before his last two fights.
“It’s just sad,” the Hague family’s attorney Ari Schacter told ESPN’s Outside the Lines. “There was a complete abdication of oversight with respect to Hague and likely other fighters during the tenure of Pat Reid and David Aitken (another defendant, who hired and retained Reid),” added Schacter.
Reid, who was reportedly removed from his ECSC position in the aftermath of Hague’s death, is an assistant professor of sport management at Brock University in Ontario. He did not return phone and email messages left by OTL at his office.
The suit notes an autopsy concluded Hague had chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), the degenerative brain disease associated with repeated blows to the head. Hague, who also worked as an elementary school teacher, was survived by his parents, his wife, a nine-year-old son, a sister and a brother.