The Los Angeles Angels on Friday settled a lawsuit over the drug overdose death of pitcher Tyler Skaggs.
The settlement decision was reached after a two-month civil trial in Southern California over whether the Angels should be held liable for Skaggs’ 2019 death after he snorted a fentanyl-laced pill provided by the team’s director of communications, Eric Kaye.
Skaggs’ widow, Carly, and his parents filed a lawsuit alleging that the MLB team knew or should have known that Kay was a drug addict and was administering painkillers to players. The Skaggs family said in a statement that the settlement is confidential and ends a painful six-year process.
“We are extremely grateful to the members of this jury and to our legal team,” the family said in the statement. “Their involvement and focus gave us faith, and now we have the final outcome. This trial has exposed the truth and we hope Major League Baseball will now do its part in holding the Angels accountable. While nothing can bring Tyler back, we will continue to honor his memory.”
The team maintained that officials were not aware that Skaggs was using drugs and would have sought his help if they had. The team is expected to make a statement later Friday.
Jurors began their deliberations earlier this week.
Orange County Superior Court Judge H. Shaina Colover thanked the jurors for their diligence. “That is why this matter was resolved today,” she added, before they were released.
Six years ago, the 27-year-old left-handed pitcher was found dead in a hotel room in the Dallas suburbs where he was staying, as the Angels were supposed to open a four-game series against the Texas Rangers. The coroner’s report said the player choked to death on his own vomit, and a toxic mixture of alcohol, fentanyl and oxycodone was found in his system.
Kay, a longtime Angels employee, was convicted in 2022 of supplying Skaggs with counterfeit oxycodone pills laced with fentanyl and sentenced to 22 years in prison. His criminal trial in Texas included testimony from five MLB players who said they received oxycodone from Kay at various times from 2017 to 2019.
In California, MLB players including outfielder Mike Trout, Archangel John Carpino, and relatives of Skaggs and Kaye testified during the trial in a Santa Ana courtroom. Prosecutors’ witnesses described how Kay was acting erratically on the field and was found with multiple plastic bags filled with pills at his home and was later hospitalized for a drug overdose. They also told how Kay got players massage appointments, game times and even prescribed medications, and players would pay him for stunts like hitting a fastball to the leg.
Angels attorneys noted that Skaggs was addicted to painkillers before he signed with the Angels in 2013. They said Skaggs had his teammates take pills and had Kay give them to them, but kept them secret for fear it would jeopardize their MLB careers. If team officials had known Kay was dealing drugs, or that Skaggs was using drugs, they would have done something, the lawyers said.
Witnesses also bickered during the case over how much money Skaggs would have made as a pitcher had he lived. Plaintiffs’ experts said he could have received between $91 million and $101 million, while the Angels Association estimated the figure at no more than $32 million.
Skaggs has been a fixture in the Angels’ starting rotation since late 2016 and has struggled with injuries frequently during that span. He previously played for the Arizona Diamondbacks.
After Skaggs’ death, MLB reached an agreement with the players union to begin testing for opioids and refer those who test positive to the treatment board.
Before the judge announced the settlement on Friday, jurors remained behind closed doors after attorneys for both sides went to speak with Colover.
Late Wednesday, jurors sent a note asking if they would “decide the amount of punitive damage,” saying there was no room for that on the verdict form. The judge said she would send a memorandum saying that if they decided punitive damages were necessary, they would decide the amount at a later date.
The jury did not serve Thursday and resumed deliberations Friday morning.