Jurors hear closing arguments in Skaggs civil trial

SANTA ANA, Calif. — A lawyer for the family of late pitcher Tyler Skaggs argued Monday that the Los Angeles Angels‘ failure to investigate reports of drug use and dealing by the team’s communications director led to the overdose death of the 27-year-old player.

An Angels attorney, however, said it was Skaggs who was pushing drug-addicted employee Eric Kay and his teammates to provide him with pills and that had club officials known about it, they would have sought help for the left-handed pitcher.

The dueling claims came in closing arguments of a two-month civil trial in Southern California over whether the MLB team should be held responsible for Skaggs’ fatal overdose after snorting a fentanyl-laced pill on a team trip to Texas in 2019.

Kay was convicted of providing the pill that led to Skaggs’ death in a federal criminal case in Texas. The California trial is a wrongful death lawsuit filed by Skaggs’ widow, Carli, and his parents contending the Angels knew or should have known Kay was an addict and dealing to players.

Daniel Dutko, a lawyer for Skaggs’ family, told jurors extensive testimony has shown team officials didn’t take adequate action when they learned Kay had multiple plastic bags filled with pills at his home or was hospitalized for a drug overdose. Rather, Kay stayed on the job and had access to players he aimed to keep happy by getting them massage appointments, tee times and prescription medication, Dutko said, adding he was found to have provided drugs to seven on the team.

“This is a systematic breakdown over and over and over,” Dutko said. “Why do you think the players think it is OK to go to the director of communications to get a prescription medication? Because they believed Eric Kay’s job responsibility was to get them whatever they need.”

Todd Theodora, an attorney for the Angels, countered that the team wasn’t aware that Skaggs had an addiction to painkillers that dated back years and didn’t know Kay was distributing pills to Skaggs or anyone else. He said Skaggs got fellow players into taking pills and Kay to act as a so-called “gopher” to provide them with the drugs, but they kept it secret out of concern it could jeopardize their MLB careers.

“This is illegal activity that they concealed because they did not want the team to know about it,” Theodora told the court, adding Skaggs took the drugs of his own free will. “They didn’t even tell their wives.”

The trial comes six years after Skaggs was found dead in the suburban Dallas hotel room where he was staying in 2019 as the Angels were supposed to open a four-game series against the Texas Rangers. A coroner’s report said the player choked to death on his vomit, and a toxic mix of alcohol, fentanyl and oxycodone was found in his system.

Kay was convicted in 2022 of providing Skaggs with a counterfeit oxycodone pill laced with fentanyl and was sentenced to 22 years in prison. His 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.

In California, the trial has included testimony from dozens of witnesses including Angels outfielder Mike Trout, Angels president, John Carpino; and Skaggs’ and Kay’s relatives. Witnesses described Kay’s erratic behavior at the stadium and incidents that led to his time in rehab before he headed out on the trip to Texas with the team. They also described how players paid Kay for stunts in the clubhouse including taking a fastball to the leg and eating a pimple off Trout’s back.

Kay’s now-ex-wife, Camela Kay, said the Angels failed her then-husband, who worked lengthy hours, and that during his 2019 hospitalization for a drug overdose, she heard he had pills intended for Skaggs. Carpino testified that he wished he had known sooner about the drug use by both Skaggs and Kay.

Skaggs had been a regular in the Angels’ starting rotation since late 2016 and struggled with injuries repeatedly during that time. He previously played for the Arizona Diamondbacks.

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.

Skaggs’ family is seeking lost earnings, compensation for pain and suffering and punitive damages against the Angels. Experts for the family said he could have reeled in more than $100 million as a pitcher had he lived, while team-hired experts put the figure at no more than $32 million.