Witness testimony began Wednesday with allegations of negligent supervision in the trial against Angels by the family of the deceased pitcher Tyler Skaggs.
Tim Mead, a 40-year-old Angels employee, was played by the plaintiffs' lawyer. Rusty Hardin under four hours of direct questioning as a well-meaning boss who repeatedly ignored company policy by failing to report the inappropriate behavior of Eric Kay, the public relations director who gave Skaggs the fentanyl pills that killed him.
Hardin cited a number of instances in which Kay likely violated Angels rules, which could have led to disciplinary action and even termination, well before the July 2019 trip to Texas during which Skaggs died in his hotel room after crushing and snorting illegal drugs provided by Kay.
Mead admitted that he knew about Kay's years of erratic behavior, an extramarital affair with an intern, and problems with prescription drugs, but never reported it to human resources.
Hardin asked if he was putting Kay ahead of the organization, doing everything possible to save him, allow him to regain his health, and keep him employed.
Meade responded, “I don't think I did it consciously at the time… I was worried about the organization, about him, his family and my employees.”
Hardin asked Mead if he was thinking about a commitment to the organization or to Kay, and Mead replied, “Both.”
Hardin: Did you notice any conflict between these roles?
Meade: “Yeah, that crossed my mind.”
Hardin argued that it was questionable that Meade claimed he had no knowledge of Kay's use or distribution of illegal opioids when, on the final day of the 2017 season, Kay's wife, Kamela, approached Meade to inform him that the family was conducting an intervention at their home that evening.
Meade and Tom Taylor, the Angels' traveling secretary, visited Kay the next morning, and Camela Kay testified during her testimony that Kay directed him to Eric's bedroom, where he hid 60 pills, kept in handfuls of 10 in small plastic bags.
When pressed by Hardin, Meade repeated that he could not say he did not do what Kamela Kay testified he did, but that he had no memory of it. Meade insisted he had no knowledge of Eric Kay using or distributing illegal drugs to Skaggs or anyone else.
Meade will be cross-examined by Angels lawyers on Friday. The court is in recess every Thursday, which is expected to last two months.
Mead will be followed by Taylor and team president John Carpino as witnesses. There are more than 75 names on the witness list, including current Angels star Mike Trout, former manager Mike Scioscia and several former players who testified in depositions that Kay or Skaggs gave them opioids.
Lawyers for Angels and the family spoke to jurors for the first time Tuesday, making very different opening statements.
Owner of Angels Moreno Art sat in the front row with Carpino, although neither was present Wednesday. Skaggs' widow, Carly, sat next to Tyler's mother, Debbie Hetman. Tyler's father, Darrell Skaggs, was absent due to ill health.
Skaggs' widow and parents are represented by two lawyers with decades of experience representing high-profile and celebrity clients. Sean Holley And Hardin.
Holly, 63, worked under Johnnie Cochran early in her career and was a member of OJ Simpson's defense team in 1995. Since then, she has represented clients ranging from entertainment giants Michael Jackson, Tupac Shakur, Justin Bieber, Kanye West, Lindsay Lohan, Snoop Dogg, Axl Rose and the Kardashians to athletes such as Trevor Bauer, Mike Tyson, and Lamar. Odom, Reggie Bush and Sugar Ray Leonard.
Hardin, 83, represented Arthur Andersen's accounting firm during Enron scandal more than 20 years ago. He has also achieved favorable decisions for many athletes such as Roger Clemens, Wade Boggs, Warren Moon, Scottie Pippen, Calvin Murphy, Steve Francis, Rudy Tomjanovich and Rafer Alston.
Angels presented Todd TheodoraExecutive Director of the internationally respected law firm Theodora Oringer. Theodora and the Angels have a long-standing professional relationship.
Theodora served as lead counsel for the Angels in a lawsuit brought by the city of Anaheim in 2005 when the team was renamed the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. The city sought more than $300 million in damages from the Angels, and they prevailed in the jury's verdict.
Theodora would not comment on the Skaggs case due to the ongoing litigation, but after the Angels' victory in court over the name change, he described in The Times the all-consuming nature of lengthy legal proceedings.
“You find yourself thinking about this case literally from the moment you wake up until the moment you go to bed, and many times in the middle of the night,” Theodora said.
The stakes are high in Skaggs' trial. Holley gave the plaintiffs' opening statement and said a fair estimate of Skaggs' lost future earnings was $118 million. She added that the Angels must also compensate the family for “loss of companionship, comfort, moral support and financial security.” And, Holley said, the family should be awarded punitive damages “not just because [the Angels] They failed to keep Tyler safe, they put him in danger.”
Using a deliberate, quiet approach, Holley walked the jury through the timeline of Kay's drug use and possible distribution of opioids. She said Angels team doctor Craig Milhouse wrote Kay numerous prescriptions for oxycodone even though he had no underlying health conditions.
Holley attempted to establish that Kay's drug use was increasing year by year, stating that “The Angels completely failed to recognize the extent of the problem.”
Holley said Kay talked about his drug use in text messages and emails, and that a club attendant witnessed Kay snorting rows of drugs in the kitchen outside the Angels Club.
Citing evidence in Kay's criminal case (he is serving a 22-year prison sentence for supplying Skaggs with fentanyl), Holley said Kay used his Angels' email address to purchase illegal drugs on the website OfferUp.
By 2019, Kay's drug use had escalated to the point that he entered an outpatient treatment program, which ended shortly before the Angels embarked on a trip to Texas during which Skaggs died. Holley claimed that the human resources department required a “fitness test” before returning to work after drug rehab.
“The angels didn’t do anything again,” she said. “So, less than two months after it was revealed that Eric Kaye was selling drugs to players, two months after Eric Kaye overdosed, and less than a month after finishing outpatient rehab, the Angels decided to send Kaye on the road. Within hours, Tyler Skaggs was dead.”
Theodora responded by saying that the team “knows right from wrong” and that it was Skaggs who made “the reckless choices we teach our children and grandchildren not to make, and for good reason.”
Theodora noted that in addition to the counterfeit fentanyl pill that Skaggs crushed and snorted that July 2019 night he died in a Texas hotel room, he had a blood alcohol level of 0.140 and a therapeutic level of oxycodone.
“The evidence will show that he did not play because of pain, he was not prescribed these pills,” Teodora said. “It is completely shameless to say that it was justifiable for someone to crush and snort opioids, that they were used simply to get through a long season.”
According to Theodora, Skaggs was involved in three crimes: “one, possession; second, taking illegal drugs; and third, as you will hear from five players, Tyler gave them illegal pills.”
Meade's opening statements and testimony underscored the reasons why the recent one-day settlement conference between the two sides went nowhere.
Skaggs was found dead in his hotel room in Southlake, Texas, on July 1, 2019, before the Angels were scheduled to open their series against the Texas Rangers. In addition to the opioids, the Tarrant County Medical Examiner determined that Skaggs had a blood alcohol level of 0.12. An autopsy revealed that he died of asphyxia after aspiration of his own vomit and that his death was accidental.
Prosecutors argued that Kay sold opioids to Skaggs and at least five other professional baseball players from 2017 to 2019. Multiple players testified at trial about receiving illegal oxycodone pills from Kay.
Skaggs family filed suit in June 2021alleging that the Angels knew or should have known that Kay was supplying drugs to Skaggs and other players. Testimony during Kay's criminal trial established that Kay was also a long-term user of oxycodone and that the Angels knew about it.
The angels responded by saying that former federal prosecutor hired by the team An independent investigation into Skaggs' death found that no team management knew or was informed that any employee provided opioids to any player.
