SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) — The Los Angeles Angels should be held responsible for the drug overdose death of one of its star 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 communication 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.

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