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The Los Angeles Angels and the family of Tyler Skaggs reached a settlement in the family’s wrongful death lawsuit against the team.
Skaggs died in 2019 after taking fentanyl-laced oxycodone provided by the team’s former communications director, Eric Kay, mixed with alcohol. Kay is serving 22 years in prison.
The terms of the settlement have not been disclosed. Skaggs’ family initially sought $118 million for Skaggs’ lost earnings, damages for pain and suffering and punitive damages against the team.
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Tyler Skaggs of the Los Angeles Angels pitches during the first inning of a game against the Oakland Athletics at Angel Stadium of Anaheim on June 6, 2019 in Anaheim, California. (Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)
The Angels argued that despite being given the pill by Kay, Skaggs took the drugs in his private time on his own and that the team is not responsible for his death.
According to ESPN, jurors had been in a third day of deliberations and there had been speculation that a decision would have gone the family’s way.
Skaggs was 27 when he was found in a hotel room in Southlake, Texas, before the Angels were to play the Texas Rangers. An autopsy report indicated that he choked on his own vomit after taking the toxic mixture.
“We are deeply grateful to the members of this jury and our legal team. Their commitment and focus gave us faith and now we have finality,” the family said in a statement. “This lawsuit revealed the truth, and we hope that Major League Baseball will now do its part to hold the Angels accountable. While nothing can bring Tyler back, we will continue to honor his memory.”
Former New York Mets ace Matt Harvey admitted during Kay’s trial that he supplied drugs to Skaggs. The two were teammates with the Angels the year of Skaggs’ death. Harvey, CJ Cron, Mike Morin and Cam Bedrosian also said in court that they had been given drugs by Kay. Morin argued in the case that Skaggs was responsible for his own actions.
Carli Skaggs, wife of Los Angeles Angels pitcher Tyler Skaggs, with Tyler’s mother, Debbie Hetman, in the dugout before a game against the Seattle Mariners on July 12, 2019, in Anaheim, California. (John Cordes/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
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Mike Trout testified that players would pay Kay for bizarre stunts, leaving Trout to raise an eyebrow. At one point, a clubhouse assistant suggested the players quit, Trout said, because Kay might be using the money for a “bad purpose,” which Trout said he immediately assumed was drugs. The three-time MVP said he had only seen Skaggs smoke marijuana and drink alcohol, and never believed he used other drugs.
Last month, Skaggs’ widow, Carli, and mother, Debbie Hetman, also testified. Carli Skaggs said she knew Skaggs struggled with a past addiction to Percocet before they dated, but she didn’t know he was still using drugs at the time of his death.
Skaggs had developed his Percocet addiction during his time with the Arizona Diamondbacks in the early 2010s, which Carli didn’t find out about until about a year after they started dating. Carli admitted that her husband took an ecstasy pill on their honeymoon and they smoked marijuana together, but stopped when they wanted to start a family.
An attorney representing the Skaggs family asked Carli if she was “able to think of any occasion” where she might have realized Skaggs was using.
“No. And I’ve been racking my brain for something I might have missed,” she replied via The Orange County Register.
The Los Angeles Angels stand in a moment of silence before playing the Seattle Mariners at Angel Stadium of Anaheim on July 12, 2019 in Anaheim, California. The entire Angels team wore No. 45 on their jerseys to honor Skaggs, who died on July 1, 2019. (John McCoy/Getty Images)
Hetman testified that the Angels never asked her about her son’s past addictions and would have told the team if asked. She also said she asked Dr. Neal ElAttrache, the doctor who performed his Tommy John surgery in 2014, about prescribing a different pain medication because of his past addiction.
