Los Angeles Angels settle lawsuit
with family of pitcher Tyler Skaggs over fatal overdose
[December 20, 2025]
By AMY TAXIN
SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) — The Los Angeles Angels reached a
confidential settlement Friday with the family of late pitcher Tyler
Skaggs after a lengthy trial that detailed drug use by players.
The two-month trial centered on whether the Angels bore
responsibility for Skaggs' 2019 overdose death on a team trip to
Texas after he'd been given a counterfeit oxycodone pill laced with
fentanyl by the team's then-communications director, Eric Kay. The
last-minute settlement was reached as jurors were nearing the end of
their deliberations, they said.
The jury had concluded the Angels were negligent and had moved on to
determining what percentage of responsibility the team shared for
Skaggs’ death, said juror Jasson Thach.
“The repeated negligence of the Angels was really it,” Thach said,
adding the group had been estimating damages at between $60 million
and $100 million.
The trial drew outfielder Mike Trout, Angels president John Carpino
and other team employees to the stand, as well as relatives of
Skaggs and Kay. Testimony described how players drank and partied on
the team plane and paid Kay for clubhouse stunts including taking a
fastball to the leg.
Skaggs’ widow, Carli, and his parents said in their lawsuit that the
MLB team knew or should have known Kay was a drug addict and dealing
painkillers to players.
“Tomorrow is the first day of the rest of their lives after six
years of living with this,” Rusty Hardin, an attorney for the
plaintiffs, told reporters.
The Angels contended that team officials would have gotten Skaggs
help if they had known he was taking drugs.
“The death of Tyler Skaggs remains a tragedy, and this trial sheds
light on the dangers of opioid use and the devastating effects it
can have,” the team said in a statement Friday.
In 2019, the 27-year-old left-handed pitcher was found dead in the
suburban Dallas hotel room where he was staying as the Angels were
supposed to open a four-game series against the Texas Rangers. A
coroner’s report said the player choked to death on his vomit, and a
toxic mix of alcohol, fentanyl and oxycodone was found in his
system.
Kay, a longtime Angels employee, was convicted in 2022 of providing
Skaggs with the fentanyl-laced pill and sentenced to 22 years in
prison. His criminal trial in Texas included testimony from five MLB
players who said they received oxycodone from Kay at various times
from 2017 to 2019.
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Attorney Russell Hardin Jr. hugs Tyler Skaggs' widow, Carli Skaggs,
center, as Skaggs mother's Debbie smiles, at left, after a
settlement was reached in the wrongful death lawsuit by the family
of the Los Angeles Angels pitcher Friday, Dec. 19, 2025, in Orange
County Superior Court, in Santa Ana, Calif. (AP Photo/William Liang)
During the civil trial in California, more than 40
witnesses testified about drug use and baseball, including how much
money Skaggs was poised to make had he lived. They described how Kay
got players massage appointments, tee times and even prescription
medication and was found with plastic bags filled with pills at his
home and later hospitalized for a drug overdose. Kay was sent on the
Texas road trip shortly after returning to work from rehab, they
said.
Witnesses also described how Skaggs struggled with painkillers
earlier in his career and was found to have chopped up and snorted a
pill when he died.
Skaggs had been a regular in the Angels’ starting rotation since
late 2016 and struggled with injuries repeatedly. He previously
played for the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Jurors began deliberations this week. Late Wednesday, they sent out
a question for the court asking whether they got to assign punitive
damages. They didn't work on Thursday and resumed deliberations
Friday morning.
Upon releasing the jurors, Orange County Superior Court Judge H.
Shaina Colover thanked them for their diligence. “That is why this
matter was able to be resolved today,” she said.
Several jurors said they were heading into what many felt would be a
tough issue — determining percentages of responsibility among
Skaggs, Kay and the team. About a third of the group tended to side
with plaintiffs, a third with the team and a third was in the middle
in answering the 26-question verdict form, said Thach.
Juror Deborah Song said she was relieved the case settled after
spending the last two months in court.
“I am so happy because that way I don’t have to put a number on
somebody’s life,” Song said.
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