Skaggs family sues Angels
Opioid death of pitcher spurs legal action in Texas, California against team, two ex-employees
The family of Tyler Skaggs filed two civil lawsuits against the Angels and two former employees on Tuesday, claiming negligence, gross negligence and wrongful death in the case of the pitcher who died after ingesting opioids nearly two years ago.
The suits, filed in Texas and California, claim that Eric Kay had supplied the drugs to Skaggs, and that the Angels and Tim Mead were aware or should have been aware enough to prevent the activity. The suit also claims that Kay was supplying drugs to “at least five other Angels players.”
The two complaints seek a jury trial and unspecified damages.
Because of differences in the laws in the two states, Skaggs’ parents — Debbie Hetman and Darrell Skaggs — are the plaintiffs in Texas, and Skaggs’ wife, Carli, is the plaintiff in California. The defendants and the charges in the two suits are the same.
Kay, an Angels media relations employee who joined the organization in 1996, has been charged in federal court with conspiracy to possess with intention to distribute a controlled substance and distribution of a controlled substance resulting in death and serious bodily injury. His trial is set to begin Aug. 16 in Texas. He faces a sentence of 20 years to life in prison.
Mead had spent four decades working in various capacities with the Angels before leaving in May 2019, less than two months before Skaggs’ death on July 1, to become president of the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. Earlier this year Mead resigned from that job to spend more time with his family in Southern California.
Angels spokesperson Marie Garvey said the team conducted an investigation that “confirmed that the organization did not know that Tyler was using opioids, nor was anyone in management aware or informed of any employee providing opioids to any player.”
“The lawsuits are entirely without merit,” Garvey said, “and the allegations are baseless and irresponsible. The Angels organization strongly disagrees with the claims made by the Skaggs family, and we will vigorously defend these lawsuits in court.”
Mead’s attorney, Eric D. Vandevelde, also released a statement: “Before Tyler Skaggs’ tragic death, Tim Mead was not aware, informed, or had any knowledge whatsoever that Tyler may have used opioids, or that Eric Kay or any Angels employee had ever provided opioids to any player. Any statement to the contrary is reckless and false.”
Michael Molfetta, who is Kay’s attorney, said his client shouldn’t be blamed for Skaggs’ death.
“I am, as always, respectful of the pain the Skaggs family is experiencing,” he said in a statement. “Addiction has devastated many families, and this is not a standalone case. However, to place the blame on Eric Kay is ambitious.”
Months after Skaggs died, when the Tarrant County coroner released findings that his death was caused by fentanyl, a dangerous synthetic opioid, the pitcher’s family hired Houstonbased attorney Rusty Hardin to help them consider civil action.
“As you might expect, the decision to file these complaints has been a very difficult one for Tyler’s parents and his wife,” Hardin said in a statement. “Nothing will ease the pain and heartache of losing their only child and, for Carli, her husband and soulmate. But they want to get to the bottom of the circumstances surrounding Tyler’s tragic, untimely and completely avoidable death, and to hold the individuals and entities — including the Angels — accountable for the actions that contributed to it.
“As the federal grand jury indictment made plainly and painfully clear, were it not for the fentanyl in the counterfeit pill provided by Angels employee Eric Kay, Tyler would be alive today. And if the Angels had done a better job of supervising Eric Kay, Tyler would be alive today.”
The suit claims that the “Angels knew, or should have known, that Kay was supplying illicit drugs to not only Tyler, but at least five other Angels players, i.e. 24% of the team’s active roster. Kay had a long history of drug abuse and the Angels knew about his problems with drug abuse and addiction.”
The suit also cites an ESPN report that outlined an April 22, 2019, conversation between Mead and Kay’s mother and wife. They reportedly told Mead that Kay and Skaggs were using opioids together, and they asked the Angels to intervene.
“Despite all of this, Mead did not stop Eric Kay from supplying illegal drugs to players, did not prevent Kay’s access to the players, and did not prevent Tyler’s drug use,” the suit reads. “Mead’s breaches of his duties proximately caused Tyler’s death.”
“The Angels knew that Kay had gone to rehab several times during his employment with the Angels and that he had overdosed at least once,” the complaint says. “Despite all of this, Kay had complete access to players, day and night both off the field and on the field, who the Angels knew, or should have known, were trying to play through the pains and injuries associated with the long baseball season. This was a fatal mistake.”
Kay allegedly admitted to federal Drug Enforcement Agency investigators that he had been providing illegal opioids to at least six Angels players.
“Kay told the DEA that at least two executives in the Angels organization knew he was dealing illicit drugs to Angels players,” the suit says. “It has also been reported that in April 2019, just months before Tyler’s death, Mead was specifically informed that Kay was providing drugs to Tyler and that he was begged to intervene to stop it. The world now knows though that despite this knowledge and the warnings, the Angels continued to provide Kay with opportunities to interact with and supply the players with drugs.”
It’s difficult to predict whether the case will move to trial or be settled out of court, Lawrence Rosenthal, a law professor at Chapman University, said Tuesday.
“It’s hard to know if the Angels will decide to go to trial as opposed to writing a big check which is kind of an admission that they were allowing someone (in their organization) to run a drug operation,” he said. “It’s a public relations decision as much as it is a business decision as it is a legal call.”
The Angels could opt for a big payout to Skaggs’ family as part of a confidential settlement agreement, Rosenthal said.
“In a lot of these cases, a plaintiff can get a confidential settlement that doesn’t disclose the amount paid or an admission of liability by the defendant which is more likely if the case is on shaky legal ground,” he said.
Having two jurisdictions — Texas where Skaggs died and California where the Angels are located — complicates matters. Wrongful death case law in Texas is more favorable to defendants while California laws are more favorable to plaintiffs.