Monday marks the day that the Los Angeles Angels will appear in court for a wrongful death lawsuit. The lawsuit was filed by the family of former Angels pitcher Tyler Skaggs, who died from an overdose during an Angels road trip in 2019.
With the Angels as the defendant in the case, the question to be answered is whether the franchise is responsible for Skaggs’ death.
The Skaggs family is seeking $210 million in damages, according to Sam Blum of The Athletic. The family intends to show the jury that the Angels either knew or should have known that imprisoned former communications director Eric Kay was providing pills to Skaggs.
Blum reported that both current and former MLB players are expected to testify during the trial, as well as top Angels officials.
The process of getting the trial underway has been heated, according to Blum.
“Throughout the process, the Skaggs side has accused the Angels of needlessly delaying the trial, and concealing key evidence entitled to them in the discovery process,” Blum wrote.
“The filings in this process have, at times, been explosive and contentious. In a filing in Orange County Superior Court on Thursday, Skaggs' lawyers highlighted deposition testimony from a clubhouse attendant stating that he witnessed Mike Trout offering to pay for Kay’s rehab in 2018. The filing also included deposition testimony from four different Angels employees and executives, discussing clubhouse behavior they were aware of involving Kay — including eating a pimple off Trout’s back in exchange for cash. Other players were allegedly involved in other dares.
Skaggs’ family will attempt to expose a culture of passiveness and complicity. They argue this relates to Kay, who the family believes had drug problems that everybody knew of, but were unchecked anyway.
“[The family’s side will] highlight evidence suggesting Angels traveling secretary Tom Taylor and former Vice President for communications Tim Mead were notified of Kay and Skaggs’ dynamic before Skaggs died as the result of a fentanyl overdose in his Southlake, Texas hotel room. Taylor and Mead have previously declined to comment,” Blum wrote.
Kay was sentenced to 22 years in prison in 2022 in connection with Skaggs’ death. He was found guilty of distribution of a controlled substance resulting in death and conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute controlled substances.
“Big picture, their goal is to show evidence that the Angels were aware of Kay’s addiction, and neglected to adequately address it, despite Kay’s direct access to the team and its players,” Blum said.
The Angels will look to put the responsibility for Skaggs’ death on himself and show they were unaware of Kay and Skaggs’ relationship.
Kay’s legal team has been funded by the Angels in hopes of overturning his conviction. They are doing so with the belief that if Kay’s conviction is overturned and he is no longer criminally culpable, then the Angels’ civil culpability would also be reduced.
“The Angels have argued that Skaggs knowingly ingested dangerous and illegal pills, and that he had numerous drug sources, including former big league pitcher Matt Harvey, and Skaggs’ close friend Christopher Leanos,” Blum wrote in the article.
There has been no case like this one in MLB history, where a team is found responsible for a player's death; however, there have been cases in other sports.
“The family of former University of Maryland football player Jordan McNair was awarded $3.5 million after he collapsed and died from heatstroke during a team workout in May 2018,” Blum noted. “Zeke Upshaw, an NBA G-League player, collapsed and died from cardiac arrest in March 2018. His family settled a wrongful death lawsuit against the Pistons and NBA.”
These examples show that major sports teams have been found culpable in an athlete’s death, and the Angels may be the next.
According to Blum, the trial is expected to take at least two months from Monday’s start date. There is no indication that the two sides will settle at any point during the trial. When the Angels arrive in court on Monday, a heated and emotional lawsuit will finally get underway. It remains to be seen how the questions around the case will be answered.