OC Register: Tyler Skaggs wrongful death suit against Angels set for trial in October 2023

[AngelsWin.com]

A wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of Tyler Skaggs against the Angels has been scheduled for a 20-day jury trial starting Oct. 2, 2023, in Orange County.

Orange County Superior Court Judge Glenn Salter set the trial date Monday when he ruled against the Angels’ motion to have the suit dismissed. Salter found there was sufficient evidence provided by Skaggs’ family to warrant a trial in which a jury would determine if the Angels knew, or should have known, enough about the circumstances of Skaggs’ death to prevent it.

Former Angels public relations manager Eric Kay in February was convicted in federal court of supplying Skaggs with the opioids that led to his death July 1, 2019, in a hotel room in Southlake, Texas, during an Angels road trip.

On Oct. 11 in Fort Worth, Texas, Kay was sentenced to 22 years in federal prison. During Kay’s trial last winter, several former Angels players testified to receiving illegal opioids from Kay.

The family contends that Tim Mead, the Angels longtime vice president in charge of communications, was aware that Kay and Skaggs were using drugs together. The Angels and Mead have repeatedly denied that accusation.

It is possible the Angels could be held liable even without management’s knowledge of the situation, because a jury could determine that they should have known, experts said.

There had been two civil suits filed, one in Texas and one in California. California law does not allow parents to be plaintiffs in a wrongful death suit if there is a spouse, so the parents were plaintiffs in Texas and Skaggs’ widow, Carli, was the plaintiff in California. However, in May the Angels agreed to allow Skaggs’ parents to join his widow in the California case.

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Now that the case has been cleared to continue in California, the Texas case is expected to be withdrawn.

Angels owner Arte Moreno is currently trying to sell the team, so presumably the new owner or ownership group would reach an agreement over liability in this case before completing the transaction. The case still could be settled or dismissed before it goes to trial.

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[Make Angels Great Again]

Such a shitty move from the family.

"Tim Mead should have known!"

I think Tyler's own family would know Tyler's drug use habits. And if they didn't, why should Tim Mead be expected to be more aware than them? What does that say about their role in his death?

[Blarg]

2 hours ago, AngelsWin.com said:

It is possible the Angels could be held liable even without management’s knowledge of the situation, because a jury could determine that they should have known, experts said.

The Skaggs family was aware of Skaggs previous drug addition but unless they revealed that to the Angels and asked they kept him on a short leash, I don't see how the team can be held responsible. If they contend the Angels should have known then how could they have not known, first off being the closest to him and experience with the warning signs. 

[Lou]

The Angels should sue the Skaggs family for knowing about Tyler's drug use and thereby costing them a valuable asset.

[Lou]

Ok, valuable might be a bit of a stretch.

[Angelsfan1984]

1 hour ago, Lou said:

Ok, valuable might be a bit of a stretch.

What are you talking about. The guy didn’t lose a game last season!

[ten ocho recon scout]

This is so stupid...

[Taylor]

Yay, another thread where we get to rehash this topic for the 122nd time.

[cals]

41 minutes ago, Taylor said:

Yay, another thread where we get to rehash this topic for the 122nd time.

Yeah, you should go to the Bauer thread and #believeallwomen instead.

[Taylor]

24 minutes ago, cals said:

Yeah, you should go to the Bauer thread and #believeallwomen instead.

I'll wait until you bump it for the 123rd time.

[UndertheHalo]

15 hours ago, Lou said:

The Angels should sue the Skaggs family for knowing about Tyler's drug use and thereby costing them a valuable asset.

 

15 hours ago, Lou said:

Ok, valuable might be a bit of a stretch.

This seems perhaps a little unnecessary.  Just my two cents.  

[Lou]

1 hour ago, UndertheHalo said:

 

This seems perhaps a little unnecessary.  Just my two cents.  

Ok, now think about how much two cents is worth.

[UndertheHalo]

20 minutes ago, Lou said:

Ok, now think about how much two cents is worth.

Hmmm good point. 

[Jay]

A dead guy can't even catch a break on this board.

[Taylor]

4 minutes ago, Jay said:

A dead guy can't even catch a break on this board.

He was addicted to drugs so he's lower than a stray cat for some folks here.

[Blarg]

 

[BTH]

Anyone know what this says and if there’s any new info?

 

[Dtwncbad]

On 11/2/2022 at 4:04 PM, Taylor said:

He was addicted to drugs so he's lower than a stray cat for some folks here.

It’s not that he is lower than a stray cat.  It’s just a matter of personal responsibility.

Nobody is more responsible for Tyler Skaggs death than Tyler Skaggs.  And that is more than enough for me to move on and stop trying make somebody else pay.

I have no respect for the Skaggs family on this.

Edited January 2, 2023 by Dtwncbad

[Dtwncbad]

Just curious when the Skaggs family lawsuit against Tyler’s agent and the Players Union goes to trial?

[James]

This is an attempt at a money grab by the Skaggs family. Claiming any employer should have known about someones personal life is a very slippery slope and not a reasonable expectation even if said drug was supplied by an employee of said company. I would love to hear them describe how they didnt know themselves that their son was using drugs yet his employer should have this knowledge. 

[Dtwncbad]

The “should have known” argument needs to be fully applied to Tyler himself.

Check mate.

Edited January 2, 2023 by Dtwncbad

[jsnpritchett]

2 hours ago, Trendon said:

Anyone know what this says and if there’s any new info?

 

If you click the "listen to this article" button just above the body of the article, an AI voice will read most of the text to you.  I don't think there's much new.  Says that Kay's criminal case revealed via some of his e-mails that 7 players got opioids from him (think that was already disclosed).  Rusty Hardin (the Skaggs family attorney) is going to argue that the fact that the drugs were procured using the Angels "technology" means that they either knew or should have known how widespread the issue was.

(Before the usual crew jumps in to scream about how stupid "should have known" is, how no one other than Skaggs is responsible for what happened, etc.: all I'm doing is summarizing what was in the article.  I'm not taking a stance one way or the other.)

[BTH]

7 minutes ago, jsnpritchett said:

If you click the "listen to this article" button just above the body of the article, an AI voice will read most of the text to you.  I don't think there's much new. 

It said “to hear the full story, sign in.”

When I clicked on the article before, the listen to this article was 7 minutes before switching to 2. So I think there is more, but I don’t know if there’s any new info.

[cals]

There is comparative negligence in CA so even if Skaggs was 99% responsible for his death, even a jury finds the Angels 1% (or whatever % less than 100) they pay that % of the damages they find.  So if the Angels are 5% responsible and the jury finds damages to be $100,000,000, then the Angels will have to pay $5,000,000.  Those numbers are just for an example.  I don’t know what a jury would find or what the damages would be.

[cals]

This is different from contributory negligence, which seems like you guys want to apply, which would totally bar the Skaggs family from any recovery if he was even 1% at fault himself.