The Los Angeles Angels have reached a settlement in a lawsuit brought by the family of pitcher Tyler Skaggs, who died in 2019 after taking a fentanyl-laced pill provided by a team employee. The settlement, announced on Friday, concludes a two-month civil trial in Orange County, California, where the family alleged the team knew or should have known that communications director Eric Kay was a drug addict and dealing painkillers to players.
The Skaggs family, including his widow Carli and his parents, said in a statement that the settlement is confidential and brings closure to a painful six-year process. “We are deeply grateful to the members of this jury, and to our legal team,” the statement read. “This trial exposed the truth and we hope Major League Baseball will now do its part in holding the Angels accountable.” The family added that they will continue to honour Skaggs’ memory.
The Angels had argued that officials were unaware Skaggs was using drugs and would have sought help for him if they had known. The team was expected to release a statement later on Friday. Orange County Superior Court Judge H. Shaina Colover thanked the jury for their diligence, saying, “That is why this matter was able to be resolved today.”
Skaggs, a 27-year-old left-handed pitcher, was found dead in his hotel room in suburban Dallas, where the Angels were scheduled to play the Texas Rangers. A coroner’s report attributed his death to choking on vomit, with a toxic mix of alcohol, fentanyl and oxycodone in his system. Kay, a longtime Angels employee, was convicted in 2022 of providing Skaggs with a counterfeit oxycodone pill laced with fentanyl and sentenced to 22 years in prison.
During the trial, witnesses including Angels outfielder Mike Trout and team president John Carpino testified. Plaintiffs’ witnesses described Kay’s erratic behaviour at the stadium, his possession of multiple bags of pills, and his hospitalisation for a drug overdose. The Angels’ lawyers countered that Skaggs was addicted to painkillers before joining the team in 2013 and that he kept his drug use secret to avoid jeopardising his career. The jury had been deliberating since Wednesday and was set to consider punitive damages before the settlement was announced.
