Published on October 14, 2025 • 2-minute read
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Los Angeles Angels starting pitcher Tyler Skaggs (45) reacts during a game in 2019. Sun files
Opening statements commenced on Tuesday in the trial concerning the wrongful death lawsuit that claims the Los Angeles Angels are liable for the 2019 drug overdose death of one of their star pitchers.
Lawyers representing both the Angels and Tyler Skaggs’ family will present their cases to the jury in this long-anticipated civil trial, which will determine if the MLB team should be held accountable after one of its employees was convicted of supplying drugs that contributed to the pitcher’s overdose during a team trip to Texas.
The wrongful death lawsuit, filed by Skaggs’ widow, Carli, and his parents, asserts that the Southern California team was aware or should have been aware that its communications director, Eric Kay, was providing drugs to Skaggs and at least six other Angels players. The lawsuit highlights Kay’s extensive history of drug abuse and his stint in rehab while employed by the team, which had numerous athletes managing injuries and pain.
The Angels argue that, despite Kay’s conviction, the autopsy revealed that Skaggs had been consuming alcohol and oxycodone at the time of his death, and that he was snorting painkillers rather than using them as prescribed. The team maintains that both Skaggs and Kay were off duty, and that the player’s actions in the privacy of his hotel room were beyond the Angels’ control.
The civil case, taking place in a Santa Ana courtroom and seeking hundreds of millions of dollars, comes more than six years after the 27-year-old Skaggs was found dead in a suburban Dallas hotel room, where he was staying ahead of a four-game series against the Texas Rangers. A coroner’s report indicated that Skaggs choked on his vomit, with a toxic combination of alcohol, fentanyl, and oxycodone detected in his system.
Kay was convicted in 2022 for providing Skaggs with an oxycodone pill laced with fentanyl and was sentenced to 22 years in federal prison. His federal criminal trial in Texas featured testimony from five MLB players who stated they received oxycodone from Kay at various times between 2017 and 2019, the years he was accused of obtaining and distributing pills to Angels players.