The Los Angeles Angels face a civil trial over the 2019 overdose death of pitcher Tyler Skaggs. Lawyers for Skaggs’ family argued in court that the team should be held responsible because it failed to enforce its drug policies and allowed Eric Kay, a team employee who was addicted to opioids and dealing drugs, to remain on staff with access to players.
Opening statements in the wrongful death lawsuit were delivered Tuesday. The suit was filed by Skaggs’ wife and parents, who seek hundreds of millions of dollars in damages. Their attorney, Shawn Holley, told jurors that Angels officials knew Kay was struggling with opioid addiction and had been providing drugs to at least six players, including Skaggs. Despite this knowledge, Holley said the Angels did not enforce their drug policies with Kay but did so for lower-level employees.
“They buried their heads in the sand over and over and over again, and as a result Tyler Skaggs is dead,” Holley told jurors.
Lawyers for the Angels countered that while Kay was convicted of supplying Skaggs with a fentanyl-laced pill, an autopsy found that Skaggs had also consumed alcohol and oxycodone before his death. The defense argued that both men were off duty at the time and that the team could not control what happened in Skaggs’ hotel room.
Skaggs’ family members attended the opening statements along with Angels owner Arte Moreno and team president John Carpino.
The trial is taking place more than six years after Skaggs died in a Dallas-area hotel room during a road trip. A coroner reported he choked on his vomit due to a mix of alcohol, fentanyl, and oxycodone.
Eric Kay was convicted in 2022 of distributing an oxycodone pill laced with fentanyl to Skaggs and received a 22-year federal prison sentence. During his criminal trial, five Major League Baseball players testified they received oxycodone from Kay between 2017 and 2019.
Holley described how drug transactions took place at various locations associated with the team: “Eric regularly supplied the drugs they needed to perform and they trusted him,” she said. “It was rampant, out of control and incredibly dangerous.”
The plaintiffs are seeking $118 million for lost earnings as well as compensation for suffering and punitive damages.
Following Skaggs’ death, Major League Baseball began testing players for opioids and set up procedures for referring those who test positive to treatment programs. This change came amid rising overdose deaths across the United States, especially from fentanyl among young adults. In 2024, overdoses became the leading cause of death among people aged 18-44 according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Skaggs had been part of the Angels’ starting rotation since late 2016 after recovering from Tommy John surgery but struggled with injuries throughout his tenure. He previously played for the Arizona Diamondbacks.
