A lawyer for the family of late MLB player Tyler Skaggs alleged during opening statements of his wrongful death trial that the pitcher’s team, the Los Angeles Angels, put him “directly in harm’s way.”
They did so, attorney Shawn Holley argued, by continuing to employ former director of communications Eric Kay. Kay is serving 22 years in prison after he was convicted in 2022 for providing Skaggs with the fentanyl-laced oxycodone pill that led to his fatal overdose at age 27.
Skaggs was found unresponsive in his Southlake, Texas, hotel room on July 1, 2019, while the Angels were in town to face the Texas Rangers. He had texted Kay, now 50, asking for painkillers the night before. Police found oxycodone pills as well as anti-inflammatories and a white powder in his room.
The medical examiner ruled his death accidental, determining that Skaggs choked to death on his vomit. He had fentanyl, oxycodone and alcohol in his system at the time.
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The Angels suspended and ultimately fired Kay after learning he had been in Skaggs’ hotel room the night of his death.
Holley argued that Kay had a history of supplying players with drugs.
“Eric regularly supplied the drugs they needed to perform and they trusted him,” she said. “It was rampant, out of control and incredibly dangerous.”
Skaggs’ widow, Carly, as well as the pitcher’s parents, filed the wrongful death suit in 2021. They are seeking $118 million for Skaggs’ estimated loss of earnings plus additional punitive damages and damages for the suffering of his family.
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Holley argued that the Angels were aware of Kay’s drug problems, stemming from his stints in rehab to showing up “very high” to work. She said that an Angels clubhouse employee would testify to witnessing Kay snorting lines in the clubhouse kitchen in 2016 and that former team PR head Tim Mead spotted pills in individual baggies when he showed up at Kay’s house in 2017.
“That sort of packaging was indicative of selling drugs … The Angels now knew,” Holley said.
“They buried their heads in the sand over and over and over again, and as a result, Tyler Skaggs is dead,” she continued.
On the other side, Angels attorney Todd Theodora argued that Skaggs death was due “to his reckless decision to mix large amounts of alcohol with narcotics on the night he died.” He added that the Angels were not aware that Skaggs may have had a drug problem or that Kay was supplying drugs to players.
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“Angels Baseball did not kill Tyler Skaggs, and Angels Baseball only wishes that he could have come forward and told us about his struggles,” Theodora said. “Told us about his challenges with drugs and we could have helped him.”
He continued, “Really, this is a simple case. Tyler, and Tyler alone, decided to obtain the illicit pills and take the illicit drugs along with the alcohol the night he died.”
During Kay’s trial, former Angels players Cam Bedrosian, C.J. Cron, Matt Harvey and Mike Morin all testified that Kay supplied drugs to them, with Skaggs often acting as the liaison.