Despite requests to further postpone an already long-delayed trial, the Los Angeles Angels are set to be defendants in a blockbuster civil case that begins in four months, one that could see superstar Mike Trout and owner Arte Moreno called as witnesses.
The family of the late pitcher Tyler Skaggs filed a lawsuit against the Angels over three years ago and has been engaged in a contentious legal battle with the franchise ever since. And the members argue the team their son pitched for is needlessly seeking to run out the clock on their right to have the case litigated in court.
An Orange County Superior Court judge, however, rejected the Angels’ attempt to further postpone the April 7 trial by at least seven months, with judge H. Shaina Colover writing earlier this week that “no good cause exists” to postpone further. The complaint was initially filed more than three-and-a-half years ago.
In recent court filings, lawyers for both the Skaggs family and the Angels have accused the other side of withholding key discovery evidence, and a discovery referee has been required to compel both sides to comply with depositions and hand over key evidence.
The two sides will meet for a status hearing in court with the judge on Jan. 10, according to the ruling. Both sides could agree to a settlement before the trial, though there doesn’t appear to be any traction toward a resolution. Skaggs’ attorney, Rusty Hardin, told The Athletic earlier this year that they’re seeking $100 million in damages from the Angels.
“The Angels Organization has stated from the beginning that prior to Tyler’s tragic death, no one in management was aware, or informed, of any employee providing opioids to any player, nor that Tyler was using opioids,” the Angels said in a statement when asked for comment this week.
Former Angels communications director Eric Kay was convicted of distribution of a controlled substance resulting in death and conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute controlled substances following a February 2022 criminal trial. He’s imprisoned at Englewood FCI in Colorado, and is scheduled to be released in 2041.
The Skaggs family’s lawsuit alleges the organization’s negligence resulted in Tyler’s death from ingesting a lethal dose of fentanyl on July 1, 2019. He was given the pills by Kay.
The trial was initially scheduled to take place in October of this year, but was delayed. The judge appears to be wary of further delays, even as both sides contentiously argue that the other is not following the court’s mandates.
“The Angels’ repeated and flagrant misrepresentations are sanctionable,” Skaggs family attorneys wrote in a brief to the court in late November. “At the very least, the Angels should be admonished for repeatedly misrepresenting the facts and the record to this Court.”
“Plaintiffs’ counsel has also ignored repeated attempts to meet and confer regarding these subpoenas,” Angels attorneys wrote regarding their attempts to compel documents. “And have failed to support their objections and privilege claims.”
Much of the debate centers around the contents of Tyler Skaggs’ cellphone. The Angels argue that the full digital history of the phone has been wrongly withheld on the basis of non-specific privacy concerns. And a discovery referee recently ruled in late November in favor of the Angels that the Skaggs family was required to un-redact certain documents from his phone.
“The logs at issue vaguely describe blanket privacy assertions mainly relating to ‘third-party personally identifying information,’” the discovery referee wrote in her ruling, “leaving the Referee with no ability to determine whether a legitimate right to privacy was asserted for each of the over 7,900 documents or files withheld or redacted.”
The Skaggs family contends that “the Angels have produced a mere fraction of the documents they have repeatedly been ordered to produce” and that they’ve also “repeatedly canceled depositions” while refusing to provide available deposition dates for their employees, including team president John Carpino.
The discovery referee also made it clear in a filing on Thursday that “anything other than a documented medical emergency” will not be considered good cause for postponing a deposition.
The referee further ruled on the dates that three depositions from three Angels employees must take place — including superstar slugger Mike Trout on Jan. 15. He’s expected to be asked about the culture of the Angels and his relationship with Skaggs, who was a close friend of Trout.
Moreno and chairman Dennis Kuhl will have to respond to subpoenas for specific documentation located on their cellphones, the discovery referee ruled in August. After the Angels initially did not respond with the requested information, the discovery referee said she was “not persuaded” by the Angels’ position that they’re not obligated to respond to discovery.
“Both Moreno and Kuhl are an integral part of the Angels organization,” the referee said. “Much of the discovery sought by Plaintiffs is relevant to the claims and defenses in this matter, whether or not they as individuals are parties.”
Those subpoenas were filed in April of 2023. And the Skaggs lawyers alleged in a filing that the Angels are trying to run out the clock to avoid accountability. In California, civil cases must be brought to trial within five years of the original complaint. That means this trial must begin by June 29, 2026, or it’s at risk of being dismissed.
“Angels Baseball has honored all requirements and has faithfully followed and will continue to follow all of the Court’s directives,” the team said in a statement.
When requesting the delay in late November, the Angels stated in their filing that anything short of a seven-month continuance would mean a trial that takes place during the baseball season. Doing so after the season, the Angels said, “would avoid conflicts with trial dates and deadlines so that witnesses are not prejudiced.”
The Skaggs family noted in their response that this was not an issue when the Angels previously agreed to the current trial date of April 7 — which takes place during the first month of the season. The initial trial date of Oct. 25, 2024, would have occurred during the MLB postseason.
“Without any explanation, the Angels seek to delay trial to avoid the entire 2025 baseball season, vaguely alleging some sort of prejudice to unidentified witnesses,” the Skaggs family wrote in their response brief. “Their request for a seven-month continuance is based upon nothing more than their convenience and their predictable desire for delay.”
The crux of the case hinges on whether or not the Angels were aware, or should have been aware of Kay’s addiction to prescription medication, and his subsequent procurement and distribution of those pills illegally within the Angels clubhouse.
In addition to providing pills to Skaggs, four other players testified at Kay’s criminal trial that he provided them with drugs.
Should the case get to trial, it’s expected that the testimony of Eric Kay’s mother, Sandy, could be critical. She said in deposition testimony that she told Tim Mead, then the vice president for communications, and current Angels traveling secretary Tom Taylor that Skaggs had been texting her son about acquiring pills from him.
The conversation allegedly happened in April 2019, after Kay was hospitalized for what his mom said was a drug overdose. Mead and Taylor were visiting Kay, and had the conversation outside his room with Sandy and Kay’s then-wife Camela.
“Tim says, ‘Hand me that phone,’” Sandy Kay testified. “So he is standing across from Camela. I’m·standing next to him. And he’s looking — he pulls a notepad out of his pocket, he’s looking at the phone and he’s writing down messages. The phone numbers. What he’s seeing. I pipe up at that point because (Camela) hasn’t mentioned Tyler Skaggs.
“And I say, ‘And Tyler Skaggs.’ And Tim doesn’t look at me. He doesn’t acknowledge me. He doesn’t do anything.”
She testified that she stood no more than two to three feet away from Mead when making the comment, and she believes that he heard her, but chose not to respond.
The Angels have long contended that they had no knowledge of Kay’s illegal dynamic with Skaggs or any players on the Angels. They said in a statement after it was initially filed that the complaint is “entirely without merit and the allegations are baseless and irresponsible.”
Mead, who was dropped as a defendant after initially being named in the lawsuit, has also denied any prior knowledge of their dynamic, in a statement given to ESPN by his attorney in 2021:
“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.”
(Top photo: Kyusung Gong / Associated Press)
