Lawyer Blames Angels for Star Pitcher’s Overdose Death
Mourners embrace during a memorial for Los Angeles Angels pitcher Tyler Skaggs at the St. Monica Catholic Church, July 22, 2019, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez, File)
The Los Angeles Angels are facing a wrongful death lawsuit over the fatal drug overdose of pitcher Tyler Skaggs, with attorneys for his family arguing the team failed to enforce its own drug policies and allowed a known drug user and dealer to remain employed and have access to players.
During opening statements Tuesday, family attorney Shawn Holley told jurors the Angels ignored repeated signs that communications director Eric Kay was addicted to opioids and distributing drugs to players, including Skaggs. Holley said the team failed to act even after Kay returned to work following rehab, but strictly enforced drug rules against lower-level employees.
“They buried their heads in the sand over and over again, and as a result, Tyler Skaggs is dead,” Holley said.
The lawsuit, filed by Skaggs’ wife and parents, seeks $118 million in lost earnings and damages for emotional suffering, as well as punitive damages against the team.
Attorneys for the Angels rejected the family’s claims, saying the organization had no knowledge that Skaggs was using drugs or that Kay was providing them.
Defense attorney Todd Theodora told jurors the evidence will show Skaggs’ death resulted from his own decision to mix alcohol with narcotics while in his hotel room during a 2019 road trip to Texas.
“He died due to his reckless decision to mix large amounts of alcohol with narcotics on the night he died, and he did that to get high,” Theodora said. “The evidence will show that Angels Baseball did not know that Tyler had a drug problem or that Eric Kay was distributing drugs to any player. Period. End of story.”
Skaggs, 27, was found dead in his suburban Dallas hotel room as the Angels prepared to open a four-game series against the Texas Rangers. A coroner’s report concluded he choked on his vomit and had a toxic mix of alcohol, fentanyl, and oxycodone in his system.
Kay was later convicted in 2022 of providing Skaggs with a fentanyl-laced oxycodone pill and sentenced to 22 years in federal prison.
The civil trial, taking place in Santa Ana, California, is expected to last several weeks and may include testimony from several current and former MLB players, including Mike Trout and Wade Miley.
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