SANTA ANA, Calif. -- Questions surrounding the Los Angeles Angels' culpability in the overdose death of pitcher Tyler Skaggs in 2019 sat at the center of opening statements in the long-awaited wrongful death civil trial Tuesday.
Shawn Holley, the attorney delivering the plaintiff's opening statement, blamed the Angels for Skaggs' death and said the franchise put him "directly in harm's way" because of Eric Kay's continued employment. Kay, a former communication director for the Angels, was convicted in 2022 of providing the fentanyl-laced oxycodone pill that killed Skaggs. He is serving 22 years in prison.
The Angels' attorney, Todd Theodora, insisted the team was not aware of Skaggs' drug issues or that Kay had been providing Skaggs with pills. Instead, Theodora argued Skaggs died due "to his reckless decision to mix large amounts of alcohol with narcotics on the night he died."
"Angels Baseball did not kill Tyler Skaggs, and Angels Baseball only wishes that he could have come forward and told us about his struggles," Theodora said. "Told us about his challenges with drugs and we could have helped him."
Skaggs' widow, Carli, and his mother sat in the courtroom behind their team of attorneys, led by Rusty Hardin. Carli Skaggs and the parents of Tyler Skaggs filed suit against the Angels in 2021. Holley said in her opening statement they are seeking $118 million for Tyler Skaggs' estimated loss of earnings as well as damages for the Skaggs family's suffering and punitive damage against the Angels.
Angels owner Arte Moreno sat in the first row of the gallery behind the Angels' attorneys, next to team president John Carpino. Moreno stared mostly straight ahead during both opening statements, occasionally glancing at both attorneys.
Attorneys for the Angels and the Skaggs family presented vastly differing opening statements about the arguments of facts in the case and what the evidence would show the jury.
"If you just wanted to go out and look at two different people at the same accident scene 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 she put the blame of Skaggs' death clearly on the Angels. Theodora, the lead attorney for the Angels, gave a 58-minute opening statement focused on the argument the Angels were not aware of Skaggs' illicit drug usage, they were unaware Kay had provided pills to Skaggs and that Skaggs made a "reckless decision" leading to his death.
Holley listed multiple times the Angels were made aware of Kay's drug issues dating to 2013. That included stints in rehabilitation and showing up "high, very high" to work. Holley said jurors would hear testimony about an Angels clubhouse employee witnessing Kay snorting lines in the clubhouse kitchen in 2016 and a 2017 intervention when Angels public relations head Tim Mead showed up to Kay's home, seeing pills in individual baggies.
"That sort of packaging was indicative of selling drugs," Holley said. "...The Angels now knew."
Holley said testimony would show Kay's addiction being "on full display" in 2018, including at work for the Angels, and how in 2019 the Angels' human resources department asked Kay to see an addiction specialist. Less than two months after returning to work, Kay was on the trip to Texas with Skaggs and the Angels when Kay provided the fentanyl-laced pill to Skaggs.
"It was a tragedy," Holley said, "... that could have been prevented by the Angels."
Holley argued the Angels ignored the team's drug policies when it came to Kay while also pointing out other employees who were suspended or dismissed when drug or alcohol usage was discovered. Theodora said the franchise was aware of Kay's bipolar diagnosis and a family history with mental illness. Theodora said the Angels offered him help to manage the diagnosis and any medication issues that arose from it.
Theodora said Kay "was the best we've ever seen him" following his outpatient treatment and that there was no reason to terminate him because Kay's treatment was tied to prescription medication. As part of his opening, Theodora showed photos of the hotel room desk in Skaggs' room the night he died, including a magenta hotel room key with drug remnants on it and a snorting straw used for the oxycodone and fentanyl.
Theodora also presented the autopsy report showing the levels of oxycodone, fentanyl and alcohol in Skaggs' system.
"Really, this is a simple case," Theodora said. "Tyler, and Tyler alone, decided to obtain the illicit pills and take the illicit drugs along with the alcohol the night he died."
Theodora said multiple times the Angels wished Skaggs had told them about any drug issues because "we could have helped him." He also said the Angels suspended and ultimately fired Kay after learning he had been in Skaggs' hotel room on the night of his death.
Theodora said their evidence would prove Skaggs used illicit drugs when he was with the Arizona Diamondbacks before joining the Angels and that multiple former Angels players (including Matt Harvey) and current players (including star outfielder Mike Trout) would either testify or have testimony read about Kay or Skaggs.
The oxycodone was not prescribed to Skaggs, Theodora said, and the fentanyl was a "counterfeit" pill, which was provided by Kay. Theodora said the amounts of oxycodone and fentanyl were in therapeutic ranges but that the addition of alcohol -- 11 to 13 drinks -- created a lethal combination.
"It was the mixture," Theodora said, "of this much alcohol with this much oxycodone with this much fentanyl that caused Tyler's death."
The case, which is expected to take six weeks, will continue Wednesday morning with the expected testimony of Mead, the first of the trial.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.