Following about two months of hearing evidence, jurors in the wrongful-death lawsuit against the Los Angeles Angels began hearing closing arguments Monday regarding the fatal opioid overdose of pitcher Tyler Skaggs six years ago.
Attorney Daniel Dutko, who represents the parents and widow of Skaggs, focused on former public relations staffer Eric Kay's struggles with drug addiction and dispensing of 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.
Dutko argued that team officials tried to make the case that they worked with Major League Baseball on Kay's drug issues, but, "Major League Baseball never knew anything about Eric Kay. ... There is no evidence Major League Baseball was ever involved."
He accused the team's attorneys of "moving the goal post" when that fact was revealed during the trial as they made the case that Kay was treated by Dr. Eric Abell and that he was "somehow qualified" to address his addictions to prescription pain killers.
"He has no training, no expertise, no knowledge of treatment of drugs," Dutko argued. "When we pointed that out, the goal posts shifted again."
Another doctor who treated Kay "had nothing to do with Major League Baseball," Dutko said.
"That's not telling you the truth. That's trying to deceive you," Dutko said.
Kay was convicted in federal court in Texas of providing a fatal dose of fentanyl to Skaggs on a road trip to play the Rangers in July 2019 and is serving a 22-year federal prison sentence.
"They kept paying Eric Kay" after it was revealed that Kay said he saw Skaggs snorting drugs in his hotel room the night before he was found dead, Dutko said. His paychecks stopped when Kay met with Drug Enforcement Administration agents and his attorney issued a statement to the media, Dutko argued.
The team paid him through October of that year but stopped "because he went to the press and they didn't like that," Dutko said, adding the team was also still footing his legal bills in his habeas petition to overturn his conviction.
Dutko also went over evidence in testimony from Kay's boss at the time, Tim Mead, and the team's travel agent, Tom Taylor, regarding an "intervention" in 2017 with Kay that led to them finding baggies of pills stuffed into shoes at Kay's home.
Dutko also attacked the testimony of an expert witness who testified that Skaggs drank about 13 beers the night before he died and ingested fentanyl and oxycodone, which the expert said contributed to Skaggs' death. Dutko said the expert used discredited methods to arrive at his conclusions.
"We all know fentanyl killed Tyler Skaggs," Dutko said.
Kay was using his work email to obtain fentanyl from "the street" and failed to warn the players the pills they were getting were counterfeit and dangerous, Dutko argued.
Dutko also ridiculed another expert for the team who said the pitcher's future earnings would have been $30 million based on a comparison of 18 pitchers. Dutko said seven of the pitchers were relievers, two pitched in the 1940s and two others in the 1960s, when there was a lot less training options for athletes.
Dutko pointed to Kay's episode in the press box at a Yankees-Angels game in 2013 in which the staffer had to be bused back to his hotel room because he was so high. Dutko argued that Kay admitted to Mead then that he had a five-a-day habit for Vicodin.
"He confesses to taking five Vicodins a day and they don't do an investigation," Dutko said. "They don't even follow their own policies."
Dutko said Kay received a "hush hush" rehab stint in 2015.
"He told Tim Mead in 2017 about doing drugs with Tyler Skaggs," Dutko argued. "Do they investigate it, report it to the police? ... They do nothing. Absolutely nothing."
In 2019, Kay had an "overdose" at work, Dutko said.
"Think about it. He has a drug overdose at work ... and you know what they do? They send him home," Dutko argued.
Kay's wife told Taylor then that a bottle of pills found that day were for Skaggs, Dutko argued.
"This is a systemic breakdown over and over again," Dutko argued.
"They want to distract you by telling you Tyler was a drug addict," Dutko said.
Only the Angels could have stopped Kay, he argued.
"Do you expect a drug addict to police himself?" Dutko said.
Some players used the painkillers because they were under enormous pressure to get back on the field when injured, he argued.
"The Angels are the only parents in the room and they're not taking responsibility," he said.
Dutko argued that because the team did nothing to stop Kay punitive damages are warranted.
"They have done nothing to fix this problem. You are the only ones who can make them fix this problem," he said.
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.
Kay ended up being a "gopher" for the drugs, Theodora argued. One player referred to it as "big leaguing" Kay, the attorney argued.
Theodora pointed to multiple text message conversations Skaggs had with his friends, teammates and widow about drug usage.
Theodora also blamed Skaggs' penchant for "falling off a cliff" in performance level in the second half of each year with an ERA averaging over 9.00 on his drug abuse.
Skaggs got up to about 150 pills a month at one point, Theodora argued. He said Skaggs was drafted by the Angels under "false pretenses" because the team did not know of his drug addiction issues.
When Skaggs did seek medical help in 2013 for his painkiller addiction he refused prescriptions to help him cope with withdrawal symptoms, Theodora argued. Skaggs' mother testified that he wanted to quit cold turkey.
After Skaggs underwent Tommy John surgery to repair his elbow he was prescribed Percocet and his mother picked up the prescription, Theodora argued.
When Kay went into drug rehab in 2018 and was trying to quit his habit, Skaggs turned to other sources for pills from one teammate, Theodora argued.
Theodora also argued there was evidence Skaggs used cocaine at a bachelor's party and while on his honeymoon at the end of 2018.
By 2019, Skaggs "is in a crescendo with his drug activity," Theodora argued.
Theodora said Skaggs noted to his wife at one point that two family members died from choking on their vomit after intoxication so he knew the dangers of using the illicit drugs.
None of Skaggs' teammates had used the prescription pain killers before meeting Skaggs, Theodora argued.
There's no way team executives wanted their players using unprescribed pain killers, Theodora argued.
"The last thing the Angels want is their players on street drugs that impair their performance," Theodora said.
So, Kay was "doing it on his own for his own reasons," when he would arrange to get pills for some of the players, Theodora said.
Kay and Skaggs were both abusing drugs and distributing them, Theodora argued. And the "players kept their drug use secret," for fear of reprisal and shame, he argued.
"Tyler brought them into the circle -- because that's what addicts do," Theodora said. "So they had other sources."
Skaggs died from a combination of drinking alcohol with the oxycontin and fentanyl, both of which were at therapeutic levels in his system at the time his body was found, Theodora argued.
Skaggs was aware the drugs he was getting were "from the street and didn't care because he was an addict," Theodora argued.
"Tyler was more of a danger" to his teammates than Kay, Theodora argued.
The only way to safeguard Skaggs was to get Kay and Skaggs "clean and sober," Theodora argued.
Kay's meeting with DEA agents was a "save my bacon speech," Theodora argued, adding that he doubted Kay's credibility that he told Mead about the drug activity before Skaggs died.
Theodora said Skaggs' future earnings were probably more about $30 million at most. It could have been less if he got caught doing drugs, he noted.
Theodora said it was "shameful" to argue that big leaguers, who need to be role models for children, get a pass for using opioids to recover and cope from injuries.
It's a "classic double standard" to hold Kay more accountable than Skaggs, Theodora argued.