New Court Filings Reveal Details in Tyler Skaggs’ Death Case

LOS ANGELES, California — Court filings have unveiled new details regarding Angels pitcher Tyler Skaggs, who died from an overdose in 2019, and former team communications director Eric Kay, now serving a 22-year prison sentence for his role in Skaggs’ death. The disclosures are part of a wrongful death lawsuit filed by Skaggs’ family in June 2021 seeking $210 million in damages.

On May 30, the Angels motioned for summary judgment to dismiss the Skaggs family’s claims. This motion included testimony from Skaggs’ former agent, Ryan Hamill, who stated that Skaggs admitted to using prescription drugs, allegedly obtained from teammate Wade Miley while they were with the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Hamill testified, “He came clean. He said he had been using — I believe it was Percocets — and he said he got them through Wade Miley.” Miley, who now pitches for the Cincinnati Reds, has not been charged with any crime related to this case.

The filings reveal hundreds of pages of testimonies and confidential depositions mistakenly posted online last week. These documents reportedly show that multiple Angels employees, including high-ranking officials, were aware of Kay’s drug use and that he was providing pills to Skaggs.

In response to the leaked documents, lawyers for the Angels accused the Skaggs family of posting them intentionally, a claim the family denied. “The documents were filed pursuant to California rules of the court and the existing protective order,” said a spokesperson for Rusty Hardin, the attorney representing Skaggs’ family.

After the document leak, the content was removed from the court’s portal, and the Angels’ legal team attempted to block media coverage of the filings, a request denied by Judge Shaina H. Colover on First Amendment grounds.

The Angels maintain their position that Skaggs was responsible for his own death due to his history of drug use. “Under the law, it is significant that Tyler Skaggs struggled with addiction for nearly a decade,” said Todd Theodora, representing the Angels.

In their defense, Angels lawyers highlighted text messages from Skaggs to teammates in which he discussed procuring pills. In one message from June 2019 to then-teammate Matt Harvey, Skaggs asked, “Can I get 2 lol,” just days before his death.

Testimony during Kay’s criminal trial revealed that several players received pills from Kay, with Skaggs acting as a middleman in some transactions. Skaggs’ mother testified that he was abusing Percocet in 2013 and had a documented history of using multiple prescription drugs.

Camela Kay, Eric Kay’s ex-wife, provided crucial testimony, claiming she informed Angels officials about her husband’s drug problems and his potential connection with Skaggs. She described an intervention for Eric Kay that went poorly and expressed concerns over his behavior to team officials after a troubling incident in 2019.

Despite the scrutiny and the serious implications of the testimony, both Tim Mead and Tom Taylor, Angels executives mentioned in the testimonies, declined to comment on the situation.

In the months leading to Skaggs’ death, witnesses testified about Eric Kay’s erratic behavior, culminating in hospitalization after which Camela Kay expressed worries that Skaggs was involved in purchasing drugs from her husband. “I told him that Kelly (Eric’s sister) had said he told her those pills were for Tyler,” she recounted in her testimony.

The case continues to unfold, with the Skaggs family firmly alleging that the Angels organization should be held accountable for their loved one’s tragic death.