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SANTA ANA (CNS) - On the fourth day of jury deliberations following a two-month trial, the parents and widow of Los Angeles Angels pitcher Tyler Skaggs reached a settlement today of their wrongful-death lawsuit against the Major League Baseball franchise over Skaggs' 2019 overdose in a Texas hotel room.
No details of the settlement were immediately released.
Skaggs' widow, Carli, filed the lawsuit along with the pitcher's parents, Debbie Hetman and Darrell Skaggs, against Angels Baseball, alleging wrongful death stemming from the narcotics the 27-year-old received from then- team communications director Eric Kay, who was later convicted of federal drug charges and sentenced to 22 years in prison.
Skaggs was found dead in a hotel room while on a road trip with the team July 1, 2019. Kay was convicted of providing the fatal dose of fentanyl to Skaggs.
``The Skaggs family has reached a confidential settlement with Angels Baseball that brings to a close a difficult six-year process, allowing our families to focus on healing,'' the Skaggs family said in a statement after the settlement was announced in court. ``We are deeply grateful to the members of this jury, and to our legal team. Their engagement and focus gave us faith, and now we have finality. This trial exposed the truth and we hope Major League Baseball will now do its part in holding the Angels accountable. While nothing can bring Tyler back, we will continue to honor his memory.''
The plaintiffs contended in their lawsuit that the team knew or should have known Kay was providing drugs for Skaggs, such as the narcotic painkiller oxycodone. The plaintiffs also alleged he was providing drugs to at least five other players and that Kay had his own substance abuse issues. The suit argued that the team was negligent in its supervision of Kay and by keeping him on the payroll.
The team argued that Kay was not acting ``within the scope of his employment'' with the club, while denying it was negligent in the way it handled Kay's employment. Angels attorneys also contended that Skaggs was ``comparatively negligent'' through his substance abuse problems.
During his closing argument of the trial, plaintiff's attorney Daniel Dutko focused on Kay's struggles with drug addiction and his actions dispensing pills to seven players on the team as the primary cause of Skaggs' death.
``We believe Tyler Skaggs should be alive today,'' Dutko said. ``We wanted the truth to come out. The same cannot be said of the Angels.''
He accused team officials of ``gaslighting'' the jury and argued that even after repeated problems and drug rehab stints for Kay, the team ignored what he was doing.
Angels' attorney Todd Theodora argued that there was no evidence the team's policy makers like President John Carpino or chief financial officer Molly Jolly knew about the drug abuse and when they did learn they immediately moved to fire Kay.
``Tyler was a part of the Angels family,'' Theodora said. ``His passing is and was a tragedy.''
But Skaggs died ``doing the things we teach our children and grandchildren not to do -- don't do drugs,'' he said.
Theodora said a defense expert diagnosed Skaggs as a ``severe drug addict'' based on ``sustained use of opioids'' from 2013 through 2019.
Theodora argued that Skaggs was the ringleader in the drug usage of several teammates in the clubhouse. Skaggs would direct teammates wanting the pills to Kay, who did not push pills, Theodora argued.
