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The Los Angeles Angels and the family of Tyler Skaggs have reached a settlement in the family’s wrongful death lawsuit against the team.
Skaggs died in 2019 after taking fentanyl-laced oxycodone supplied by former team communications director Eric Kay mixed with alcohol. Kay is serving 22 years in prison.
Terms of the agreement have not been disclosed. Skaggs’ family originally sought $118 million for Skaggs’ lost earnings, compensation 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 in Anaheim on June 6, 2019, in Anaheim, California. (Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)
The Angels argued that Skaggs, even though Kay gave him the pill, took the drugs in his private time of his own free will and that the team is not responsible for his death.
According to ESPN, the jurors had been in the third day of deliberations and there had been speculation that a decision would have been favorable to the family.
Skaggs was 27 years old when he was found in a hotel room in Southlake, Texas, before the Angels played the Texas Rangers. The forensic report indicated that he choked on his own vomit after drinking 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 purpose,” the family said in a statement. “This trial exposed the truth, and we hope that Major League Baseball does 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 had supplied drugs to Skaggs. The two were teammates on the Angels in the year of Skaggs’ death. Harvey, CJ Cron, Mike Morin and Cam Bedrosian also told the court that Kay had provided them with drugs. 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, which caused Trout to raise an eyebrow. At one point, a club manager suggested the players should stop, 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, not thinking he was using other drugs.
Last month, Skaggs’ widow, Carli, and his mother, Debbie Hetman, also testified. Carli Skaggs said she knew Skaggs had struggled with a previous Percocet addiction before he came out, 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 that they smoked marijuana together, but they stopped smoking when they wanted to start a family.
An attorney representing the Skaggs family asked Carli if she “could think of a time” when she might have realized Skaggs was using.
“No. And I’ve racked my brain for something I might have missed,” he responded, via The Orange County Registry.
The Los Angeles Angels observe a moment of silence before playing against the Seattle Mariners at Angel Stadium in Anaheim on July 12, 2019, in Anaheim, California. The entire Angels team wore the number 45 on their jerseys to honor Skaggs, who died on July 1, 2019. (John McCoy/Getty Images)
Hetman testified that the Angels never asked him about his son’s previous addiction and would have told the team if they had asked him. He also said he asked Dr. Neal ElAttrache, the doctor who performed Tommy John surgery on him in 2014, to prescribe a different pain reliever because of his previous addiction.
