SANTA ANA, Calif. — The Los Angeles Angels should be held responsible for the drug overdose death of one of its pitchers because the team failed to follow its own drug policies and let an addicted and drug-dealing employee stay on the job and have access to the players, a lawyer for the pitcher’s family said on Tuesday.
The allegations came in opening statements of the long-awaited civil trial in a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the wife and parents of Tyler Skaggs. The family contends that the MLB team should be held responsible for the 27-year-old pitcher’s death after its communications director, Eric Kay, was convicted of providing the fentanyl-tainted pill that led to Skaggs’ fatal overdose on a team trip to Texas in 2019.
The plaintiffs’ attorney Shawn Holley told jurors that Angels officials knew Kay was addicted to opioids, showing up high to work and providing drugs to at least six players, including Skaggs. Holley said the Angels repeatedly failed to follow the team’s drug policies when it came to Kay, even assigning him to accompany the team to Texas soon after he had gone through rehab, but fully enforced the rules when it came to lower-level employees who had stadium jobs.
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“They buried their heads in the sand over and over and over again, and as a result Tyler Skaggs is dead,” Holley told jurors.
Lawyers for the Angels, who will address the jury later on Tuesday, contend that despite Kay’s conviction, the autopsy results showed Skaggs had also been drinking and taking oxycodone when he died, and he was snorting painkillers instead of taking them as prescribed. The team also argues that Skaggs and Kay were off duty and the player’s actions in the privacy of his hotel room could not have been prevented by the Angels.
Skaggs’ wife and mother were in court for opening statements, as were Angels owner Arte Moreno, the team’s president John Carpino, lawyers and news reporters.
The civil case in a Santa Ana courtroom — which seeks hundreds of millions of dollars — comes more than six years after Skaggs was found dead in the suburban Dallas hotel room where he was staying as the Angels were supposed to open a four-game series against the Texas Rangers. A coroner’s report says Skaggs choked to death on his vomit and that a toxic mix of alcohol, fentanyl and oxycodone was found in his system.
Kay was convicted in 2022 of providing Skaggs with an oxycodone pill laced with fentanyl and sentenced to 22 years in federal prison. His federal criminal trial in Texas included testimony from five MLB players who said they received oxycodone from Kay at various times from 2017 to 2019, the years he was accused of obtaining pills and giving them to Angels players.
Holley told jurors that Angels players were buying drugs from Kay at the clubhouse, in the locker room and in the parking lot of the team’s Southern California stadium to help them play through the pain. In 2019, Kay was hospitalized due to his own drug use, and his wife found text messages on his phone indicating he had been providing drugs to the players, which she shared with Angels officials, Holley said.
“Eric regularly supplied the drugs they needed to perform, and they trusted him,” Holley said. “It was rampant, out of control and incredibly dangerous.”
Plaintiffs are seeking $118 million for Skaggs’ lost earnings as well as compensation for the family’s suffering and punitive damages against the team, Holley said.
After Skaggs’ death, the MLB reached a deal with the players association to start testing for opioids and to refer those who test positive to the treatment board. The United States has been grappling with a wave of overdose deaths, many due to the potency of fentanyl, among young people, with overdoses reported as the leading cause of death for people 18-44 years old in 2024, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Skaggs had been a regular in the Angels’ starting rotation since late 2016, when the left-hander returned from Tommy John surgery. He struggled with injuries repeatedly during that time.
Before pitching for the Angels, Skaggs played for the Arizona Diamondbacks.
The trial is expected to take weeks and could include testimony from players including Angels outfielder Mike Trout and the team’s former pitcher, Wade Miley, who currently plays for the Cincinnati Reds.
