Alleging negligence causing the 2022 death of her 19-year-old granddaughter, a North Bay city councillor has launched a $3-million wrongful death claim against Canadore College, one of their professors, a North Bay wrestling school and its owner, Dann Pigozzo.
The suit surrounds the death of Alexis ‘Lexie’ Marie Leduc-Mitchell, granddaughter of Coun. Lana Mitchell, who was elected to North Bay City council earlier in 2022. She is best known as the executive director of LIPI (Low Income People Involvement) of Nipissing, a role she held for more than three decades.
The suit alleges Leduc-Mitchell’s death, which occurred Dec. 16, 2022, was caused by injuries she obtained while training at Northland Wrestling’s NRGY Professional Wrestling Academy, located in North Bay. Also included in the suit is the owner of the building where the NRGY Academy was located, BT Holdings Inc. and Canadore College, as Lexie was a student at the time of her death.
The statement of claim accuses Canadore College of breach of contract and negligence, stating the post-secondary school “failed to screen or vet the well-known professional wrestling activities,” which could “endanger the health or lives of its students,” lobbing the same claims against BT Holdings, the owner of the building at 559 Main Street East, which houses the wrestling school. Both companies deny the accusations, Canadore formally through a statement of defence.
But, it’s the owner of both Northland and NRGY Academy, Dann Pigozzo (wrestling under the name Dann Jarris) as well as Lexie’s Canadore theatre professor, Joshua Bainbridge, (known as wrestler, Josh Bain) who face the most allegations.
“During the course of her advanced theatrical training at the wrestling school, Lexie sustained significant injuries, including traumatic brain injuries,” reads the statement of claim, filed by Mitchell's lawyer on Dec. 13, 2024. “Despite these injuries, the documents state Lexie was ‘encouraged by Bainbridge and Pigozzo to continue her theatrical training’ at NRGY and on December 14, 2022, ‘sustained a final traumatic brain injury’.”
The documents state Leduc-Mitchell “suffered horribly from her final traumatic brain injury and languished in hospital fighting for her life, with Lana, Patrick and Rodney at her side, until she eventually succumbed to her injuries and died on December 16, 2022.”
Bainbridge has denied the allegations in writing and points to Pigozzo and Northland in a counterclaim; Pigozzo has filed notice of his intention to defend himself in court.
Leduc-Mitchell’s estate is suing the four defendants for damages “for personal injuries suffered by and leading to the eventual wrongful death” of the 19-year-old, as well as damages under the Family Law Act, which details the care that Leduc-Mitchell could have offered her aging grandparents. Additionally, the pain and suffering of her family is included, with damages claimed totaling $3 million.
That includes: to the estate, $250,000 in “damages resulting from her injuries and subsequent death;” to Mitchell, damages resulting from the injuries and subsequent death of her granddaughter, including a claim pursuant to the the above family law provision and damages for mental distress in the amount of $500,000; the same amount each to her grandfather and father, for the same reasons; as well as aggravated damages in the amount of $250,000; and $1 million in “punitive and/or exemplary damages.”
Additionally, the claim includes the plaintiffs legal costs, “claims for special damages, the full particulars of which are not available at the time of delivery of the statement of claim” and “such further and other relief” as the court deems just.
Alexis ‘Lexie’ Marie Leduc-Mitchell 2001-2022
Leduc-Mitchell was born Aug. 3, 2001, and prior to her death was living with her grandparents. Her father, Rod Chevrier lives in Kipawa, Que. and she was estranged from her mother.
Her younger sister, Tianna Marie Leduc-Mitchell, died on July 11, 2019 at the age of 13.
According to the court documents, Leduc-Mitchell was a full-time theatrical student at Canadore in its Acting for Stage and Screen Program. At the time of her death, she was in her final year of the three-year-program.
“Lexie was a young, talented, aspirational, Indigenous student actor, with a short but impressive amateur acting resume,” the documents state. “Her expressed desire to all who knew her, including Bainbridge, was to have a successful career as a stage and screen actor.”
She had an IMDB page, which you can find here.
In the claim, the Mitchells accuse the defendants, Pigozzo and Bainbridge, of “recruiting people into their professional wrestling business” and promoting their wrestling school.
“As part of their recruiting and promotion program, they actively recruited Bainbridge’s students from Canadore’s Acting for Stage and Screen Program, including Lexie,” read the documents.
The claim alleges that Pigozzo and Bainbridge “actively recruited” Canadore students into participating in a dangerous activity “under the facade of promoting their acting careers,” and that the two men “failed to disclose the real or inherent safety risks in participating in their wrestling school.”
They are accused of failing to: “properly train or instruct students in a safe or reasonable manner,” or to “adhere to reasonable safety practices or procedures employed in the theatre and film industry;” that they failed to properly train or instruct the students of the proper techniques to ensure safety and minimize risk of injury; and, that the schools did not have enough staff and “employed incompetent servants, agents and/or contractors to train and/or supervise the students.”
The documents also alleges Pigozzo and Bainbridge “failed to provide the students protective equipment designed to ensure their safety and thus created a danger and a trap for individual student participants.”
Specific to the incident that they allege killed Lexie, the documents accuse Bainbridge and Pigozzo of failing to utilize or install protective equipment in the wrestling arena for students during training and “thus creating a danger and a trap for students,” as well as creating an “inherently dangerous activity in an inherently dangerous location.” The documents also level the accusation that the two men “required their students to participate in that activity without informed consent.”
They allege the two men, through the NRGY Academy, “implemented no (or inadequate) screening protocol for potential students whereby individuals were screened for medical or physical suitability to engage in professional wrestling, stating they had no injury or concussion protocols, and that “they pushed their students, including Lexie, beyond their physical capabilities, given their background, medical and health history, size and/or stature” and
“created a situation of danger and emergency from which Lexie, despite all reasonable efforts, could not extricate herself.”
Who are Pigozzo and Bainbridge and what is Northland and NRGY?
On the website of his wrestling promotion company, Northland Wrestling, Pigozzo claims to have more than 25 years experience in the wrestling industry and states that “while it has changed hands a few times,” Northland Wrestling “is a name that has been associated with professional wrestling in Canada for almost 100 years.”
Headquartered in North Bay, Northland produces “major wrestling events” and conducts shows locally and regionally.
The NRGY Professional Wrestling Academy is a training institution owned and operated by Pigozzo, which was, per the website, “founded in 2021 for the express purpose of training a new generation of wrestlers in Northern Ontario.” NRGY “works with all ages, backgrounds and abilities to ensure wrestling skills are gained in a safe collaborative environment,” the website reads, and notes students have gone on to wrestle in Northland events “and for other professional wrestling companies in Canada.”
Professional wrestling can be a dangerous gig: for instance, in 2023, Pigozzo himself was injured at an event, noting on the Northland Wrestling Facebook page that one wrestler was diagnosed with a concussion while he “required 26 staples to close up a head wound.”
Bainbridge is a professor in the Canadore’s Acting for Stage and Screen program, which describes the program’s instructors as “experienced professionals and guest artists who bring special expertise in a range of areas."
The statement of claim states that the course taught by Bainbridge, Stage and Film Fighting Technique, was required for graduation and “introduced third year students to theatrical combat for actors pursuing stage and screen careers.”
The documents allege that Canadore promoted Bainbridge “as an accomplished actor, writer, and director, with numerous stage and screen accomplishments”
On their website, Canadore describes Bainbridge as “an actor, writer, director, and the artistic director of the Proscenium Club Touring Theatre Company.”
They list his original works as well as his awards, including best Director at the 2014 QUONTA festival as well as winning Best Production. “In summer 2017, Josh adapted, directed, and played the titular character in “Macbeth” at the On The Edge Fringe Festival, which won two Best in Fringe Awards—Jurors’ Choice and Audience Choice.
“In film and television Josh has appeared in numerous projects,” the description reads. “Joshua also works as a northern OSLO ACTRA representative” .
The court documents state that in 2022, both Bainbridge and Pigozzo were recruiting people into their professional wrestling business and promoting their wrestling school.
“As part of their recruiting and promotion program, they actively recruited Bainbridge’s
students from Canadore’s Acting for Stage and Screen Program, including Lexie.”
The documents allege that Bainbridge acted as a mentor and a close confidant. “Lexie trusted
Bainbridge to always act in her best interests in developing her skillset to become a successful actor,” and as a result of this trust and “the active recruiting program” of both men for Canadore theatrical students, Lexie agreed to further her theatrical studies and become a student of Pigozzo and Bainbridge’s wrestling school.
The claim states that each student, including Lexie, paid a tuition fee to Pigozzo and Bainbridge for the additional theatrical training through the wrestling school.
It is then the documents outline the accusations that during the course of training, Lexie sustained “significant injuries, including traumatic brain injuries,” and then level the claim that “despite these injuries, Lexie was encouraged by Bainbridge and Pigozzo to continue
her theatrical training at the wrestling school and on December 14, 2022, sustained a final traumatic brain injury.”
She died in hospital two days later.
In his statement of defence, Bainbridge denies ownership or operation of either Northland or NRGY, denies recruiting Lexie and accepting a separate tuition from her. He also questions his role as a mentor and confidant to Lexie, states any injuries she faced were either pre-existing or undisclosed and that she was negligent in following the training she was provided.
“She failed under all the circumstances to act with reasonable care and concern towards her own safety,” states his defence documents.
The wrongful death suit claims that Lexie’s “coercion” into the wrestling school by Bainbridge “was a breach of a fiduciary duty he owed to Lexie as her professor, mentor and confidant to place her best interests above his own professional or for-profit ambitions.”
It’s also due to this “breach” that the plaintiffs state Canadore is “in law responsible,” resulting in Lexie sustaining foreseeable serious personal injuries, damages and eventual death.
Dann Pigozzo, on behalf of both his wrestling companies, issued his intent to defend on June 13, 2025.
Both Canadore College and Bainbridge state in their defence filings that if the injuries were caused by the training, which they deny, “then those injuries and damages were caused or contributed to by the negligence of” the other defendants, namely Pigozzo, Northland and NRGY.”
The statement of claims closes by adding that Leduc-Mitchell’s death was a “senseless” death.
“Lexie was injured and died due to the defendants’ recklessness, gross negligence, arbitrary misconduct, and complete disregard for her safety and well-being. She was treated, at best, as a promotional commodity for the Wrestling School,” the document claims.
“Her beauty, charm, grace and likeability were all exploited for the commercial success of Northland, NRGY, Dann Jarris and Josh Bain. As a result, Lexie’s estate is entitled to a significant award of punitive or exemplary damages to achieve the objectives of retribution, deterrence and denunciation.”
Jenny Lamothe covers vulnerable and marginalized populations, as well as housing issues and the justice system for Sudbury.com.