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Michael Rothstein
Santa Ana, California — Nearby Questions Los Angeles Angels‘Blamed for death due to pot overdose’ tyler skaggs 2019 Tuesday sat at the center of opening statements in a long-awaited wrongful death civil lawsuit.
Shawn Holley, the attorney who gave the plaintiff’s opening statement, blamed the Angels for Skaggs’ death and said the franchise put him “directly in harm’s way” due to Eric Kay’s continued employment. Kay, the Angels’ former communications director, was convicted in 2022 of providing the fentanyl-laced oxycodone pill that killed Skaggs. He is serving 22 years in jail.
The Angels’ attorney, Todd Theodora, insisted that the team was not aware of Skaggs’ drug issues or that Kay was providing pills to Skaggs. Instead, Theodora argued that Skaggs’ death was caused by “his reckless decision to mix a large amount of alcohol with narcotics on the night he died.”
Theodora said, “Angels Baseball did not kill Tyler Skaggs, and Angels Baseball only wants him to come forward and tell us about his struggles.” “Told us about their challenges with drugs and how we could help them.”
Skaggs’ widow, Carly, and her mother sat in the courtroom behind his team of attorneys, led by Rusty Hardin. The parents of Carly Skaggs and Tyler Skaggs filed a lawsuit against the Angels in 2021. Holley said in his opening statement that he is seeking $118 million for the estimated loss of Tyler Skaggs’ earnings as well as compensation for the suffering of the Skaggs family and punitive damages against the Angels.
Angels owner Arte Moreno sat in the first row of the gallery behind the Angels’ lawyers, next to team president John Carpino. Moreno mostly looked straight ahead during both opening statements, occasionally looking at both attorneys.
Engels and Skaggs family attorneys presented very different opening statements pleading the facts in the case and what the evidence would show the jury.
“If you just want to go out and see two different people at the same crash site and get 180-degree different views,” Hardin said as he left the courtroom, “today was the day.”
Holley gave a 52-minute opening statement in which he placed blame for Skaggs’ death squarely on the Angels. Theodora, Engel’s lead attorney, delivered a 58-minute opening statement, focused on arguing that Engels was not aware of Skaggs’ illegal drug use, was unaware that Kay had provided Skaggs with pills and that Skaggs made a “reckless decision” that led to his death.
Holly told The Times several times that the Angels were made aware of Kay’s drug issues in 2013. This included showing up “high, very high” for rehabilitation and work. Holley said jurors will hear testimony about an Angels clubhouse employee spotting Kay snorting in the clubhouse kitchen in 2016 and a 2017 intervention when Angels head of public relations Tim Mead discovered pills in individual baggies at Kay’s home.
“This type of packaging was indicative of the sale of drugs,” Holley said. “…the angels now know.”
Holley said the testimony would show that Kay’s addiction was “on full display” in 2018, including while working for the Angels, and how in 2019 the Angels’ human resources department told Kay to see an addiction specialist. Less than two months after returning to work, Kay was on a trip to Texas with Skaggs and Engels when Kay provided Skaggs with a fentanyl-laced pill.
“It was a tragedy,” Holley said, “…it could have been prevented by the Angels.”
Holley argued that the Angels ignored the team’s drug policies when it came to Kay’s case, also pointing to other employees who were suspended or fired when drug or alcohol use was discovered. Theodora said the franchise was aware of Kay’s bipolar diagnosis and family history of mental illness. Theodora said the angels offered her help with the diagnosis and managing any drug-related problems that might arise.
Theodora said that Kay was “in the best shape we’ve ever seen him” after his outpatient treatment and that there was no reason to terminate him because Kay’s treatment involved prescription drugs. As part of her opening, Theodora showed photos of the desk in Skaggs’ hotel room the night he died, including a magenta room key with drug residue and a sniffing straw used for oxycodone and fentanyl.
Theodora also presented the autopsy report showing the levels of oxycodone, fentanyl and alcohol in Skaggs’ system.
“Indeed, it is a simple matter,” said Theodora. “Tyler, and Tyler alone, decided to obtain illegal pills and take the illegal drugs with alcohol the night he died.”
Theodora said several times that the Angels wished Skaggs had told them about any drug issues because “we could have helped them.” He also said that the Angels suspended and ultimately fired Kay after learning that he had been in Skaggs’ hotel room on the night of his death.
Theodora said that her evidence would prove that Skaggs had used illegal drugs while he was with her. Arizona Diamondbacks Before joining the Angels and several former Angels players (including Matt Harvey) and current players (including star outfielder mike trout) will either testify or read testimony about Kay or Skaggs.
Skaggs was not prescribed oxycodone, and the fentanyl was a “fake” pill provided by Theodora, Theodora said. Theodora said the amounts of oxycodone and fentanyl were in the therapeutic range, but adding alcohol – 11 to 13 drinks – created a deadly combination.
“It was the mixture,” Theodora said, “of so much alcohol and so much oxycodone and so much fentanyl that caused Tyler’s death.”
The case, which is expected to take six weeks, will continue Wednesday morning with anticipated testimony from Mead, who will be the first in the trial.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
