Tyler Skaggs’ family sues Angels for negligence over his 2019 drug-related death

Tyler Skaggs’ wife and parents have filed wrongful death lawsuits against the Los Angeles Angels and two of the team’s former employees, family attorney Rusty Hardin announced Tuesday.

The lawsuits come almost two years to the day after Skaggs, the Angels pitcher, was found dead in a Texas hotel room with fentanyl and oxycodone in his system.

The Angels are named in both suits, as are the team’s former director of communications, Eric Kay, and his boss, Tim Mead. Kay has been charged by federal authorities in Texas for distributing fentanyl in connection with Skaggs’ death.

“As you might expect, the decision to file these complaints has been a very difficult one for Tyler’s parents and his wife,” Hardin said in a statement. “Nothing will ease the pain and heartache of losing their only child and, for Carli, her husband and soulmate. But they want to get to the bottom of the circumstances surrounding Tyler’s tragic, untimely and completely avoidable death, and to hold the individuals and entities — including the Angels — accountable for the actions that contributed to it.”

The Angels did not immediately comment on the lawsuits. Attempts to reach Kay, Mead or their attorneys were not immediately successful.

Skaggs’ wife, Carli, filed one of the lawsuits in Los Angeles County Superior Court. His parents, Debbie Hetman and Darrell Skaggs, filed the other in Tarrant County District Court in Texas.

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