In a dramatic courtroom showdown, the legal teams representing the family of the late pitcher Tyler Skaggs and the Los Angeles Angels confronted each other regarding the team's alleged negligence related to Skaggs' tragic overdose death. On a recent Monday, a lawyer advocating for Skaggs' family asserted that the Angels’ failure to thoroughly investigate reports about drug use and distribution linked to the team's communications director was a direct factor in the 27-year-old athlete's fatal overdose.
Conversely, an attorney for the Angels contended that it was actually Skaggs who pressured Eric Kay, an employee with a known addiction, as well as his fellow teammates, into supplying him with pills. This lawyer maintained that had the team been aware of these circumstances, they would have intervened to assist Skaggs.
These conflicting assertions emerged during the closing arguments of a two-month civil trial in Southern California, which centers on whether the Major League Baseball team bears responsibility for Skaggs' overdose after he consumed a fentanyl-laced pill during a team trip to Texas in 2019.
Eric Kay was previously convicted in a federal case for supplying the counterfeit pill that led to Skaggs' death. The current wrongful death lawsuit has been initiated by Skaggs' widow, Carli, and his parents, who argue that the Angels either knew or should have been aware of Kay's struggles with addiction and the potential for him to be distributing drugs to players.
Daniel Dutko, representing Skaggs' family, emphasized to the jury that extensive testimony has revealed the Angels’ management failed to take appropriate actions even after learning that Kay had multiple bags of pills at home and had been hospitalized due to a drug overdose. He pointed out that Kay remained employed and continued to have access to players, whom he endeavored to placate by arranging massages, tee times, and providing prescription medications. Dutko noted that Kay had delivered drugs to a total of seven members of the team, stating, "This is a systematic breakdown over and over and over. Why do you think the players feel comfortable approaching the communications director for prescription medication? Because they believed Eric Kay's job was to fulfill their needs."
On the other side, Todd Theodora, the Angels' attorney, argued that the team was completely unaware of Skaggs' long-standing painkiller addiction and had no knowledge of Kay's distribution of drugs to him or any other players. Theodora claimed that Skaggs and his teammates kept their drug use hidden, fearing that revealing their activities could threaten their careers in Major League Baseball. "This is illegal activity that they concealed because they didn’t want the team to know about it," Theodora stated, adding that Skaggs made the choice to take the drugs voluntarily and that even his teammates did not disclose their issues to their wives.
This trial unfolds six years after Skaggs tragically passed away in a hotel room in suburban Dallas, where he was staying prior to a scheduled game against the Texas Rangers. A coroner's report indicated that he died from choking on his vomit, with a mixture of alcohol, fentanyl, and oxycodone found in his system.
Kay was sentenced to 22 years in prison after being convicted in 2022 for providing the lethal counterfeit oxycodone pill. Evidence presented during his Texas trial included testimonies from five MLB players who revealed they had received oxycodone from Kay during the years leading up to Skaggs’ death.
Throughout the California trial, numerous witnesses have testified, including notable figures such as Angels outfielder Mike Trout and team president John Carpino, along with relatives of both Skaggs and Kay. They recounted Kay's erratic behavior, instances leading to his rehab admissions, and activities where players compensated Kay for pranks in the clubhouse.
Camela Kay, Eric Kay's ex-wife, expressed that the Angels neglected her husband, who put in long hours, and mentioned that during his hospitalization for an overdose in 2019, she learned he had pills meant for Skaggs. In response, Carpino confessed that he wished he had been informed sooner about the drug issues affecting both Skaggs and Kay.
Tyler Skaggs had been an integral part of the Angels' starting rotation since late 2016 but faced persistent injury challenges during this period. Before joining the Angels, he played for the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Following the tragedy of Skaggs' death, Major League Baseball established new protocols in collaboration with the players' association to implement opioid testing and to ensure that players who test positive are referred for treatment.
Skaggs' family is pursuing compensation for lost earnings, pain and suffering, as well as punitive damages from the Angels. Experts for the family suggest that had he survived, Skaggs could have earned upwards of $100 million as a professional pitcher, while estimates provided by the team's experts suggest a maximum of $32 million.
