A former Los Angeles Angels official testified Wednesday that a team employee convicted of providing drugs that led to the death of one of the team’s star pitchers was good at his job but had some behavioral problems and had been taking prescription drugs for depression and bipolar disorder.
Tim Mead was the first witness to testify in the long-awaited civil trial in a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of late pitcher Tyler Skaggs. Mead left the Angels, where he oversaw the team’s communications, a few weeks before the 2019 overdose death to become president of the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
The family claims the team should be held responsible for Skaggs’ death after communications director Eric Kay was convicted of providing the fentanyl-tainted pill that led to Skaggs’ fatal overdose during a team trip to Texas in 2019.
Mead, Kay’s boss, told a Santa Ana court Thursday that he knew Kay was on medication and sometimes had days off because of his mental health issues. Mead said Kay was a good employee 95% of the time but occasionally exhibited questionable behavior, such as yelling at an intern, having an affair with another and taking money from players for stunts such as getting hit by a fast-moving field.
“He was a good worker, he performed well. I saw the recovery when there was what I would call a day off,” said Mead, who now works as an adjunct professor. “I took him at his word because he knew what his condition was and what he was doing.”
Mead said he believed Kay was mismanaging his medication, and said Kay told him he sometimes didn’t take it and had never heard anything about using illegal drugs. When an attorney for the plaintiff’s family asked why Mead did not report Kay’s problems to the team, Mead said Kay was participating in an employee assistance program that he considered “part of the organization.”
In April 2019, Mead said concerns about Kay rose to a new level when he behaved unusually at work and ended up in hospital later that evening. Mead said he went to see Kay the next day.
“He was a mess. His eyes were half rolled up in his head,” Mead said. “Clearly something was very wrong.”
Skaggs’ wife, Carli, and parents filed a wrongful death lawsuit, claiming the team failed to follow drug policy and allowed an addicted and drug-dealing employee, Kay, access to its players.
The Angels claim that Skaggs and Kay were involved in drugs on their own time and that the team could not have prevented what Skaggs did in the privacy of his hotel room the night he died. The team has also said officials did not know Skaggs was using drugs or they would have tried to help him.
The trial comes more than six years after 27-year-old Skaggs was found dead in the suburban Dallas hotel room where he was staying as the Angels were scheduled to open a four-game series against the Texas Rangers. According to a coroner’s report, Skaggs choked on his vomit and a toxic mixture of alcohol, fentanyl and oxycodone was found in his system.
Kay was convicted in 2022 of providing an oxycodone pill laced with fentanyl to Skaggs and sentenced to 22 years in prison. His federal criminal trial in Texas included testimony from five MLB players who said they received oxycodone from Kay at different times between 2017 and 2019, the years in which he was accused of obtaining pills and giving them to Angels players.
Skaggs’ family is seeking $118 million in lost income, as well as compensation for their pain and suffering and punitive damages against the team.
Skaggs has been a fixture in the Angels’ starting rotation since late 2016 and has struggled with repeated injuries during that time. He previously played for the Arizona Diamondbacks.
After his death, MLB reached a deal with the players’ association to begin testing for opioids and refer those who test positive to the treatment board.
The trial is expected to last weeks and could include testimony from players including Angels outfielder Mike Trout and the team’s former pitcher Wade Miley, who currently plays for the Cincinnati Reds.
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