Los Angeles Angels settle lawsuit with family of pitcher Tyler Skaggs over fatal overdose

SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) — The Los Angeles Angels reached a confidential settlement Friday with the family of late pitcher Tyler Skaggs after a lengthy trial that detailed drug use by players.

The two-month trial centered on whether the Angels bore responsibility for Skaggs' 2019 overdose death on a team trip to Texas after he'd been given a counterfeit oxycodone pill laced with fentanyl by the team's then-communications director, Eric Kay. The last-minute settlement was reached as jurors were nearing the end of their deliberations, they said.

The jury had concluded the Angels were negligent and had moved on to determining what percentage of responsibility the team shared for Skaggs’ death, said juror Jasson Thach.

“The repeated negligence of the Angels was really it,” Thach said, adding the group had been estimating damages at between $60 million and $100 million.

The trial drew outfielder Mike Trout, Angels president John Carpino and other team employees to the stand, as well as relatives of Skaggs and Kay. Testimony described how players drank and partied on the team plane and paid Kay for clubhouse stunts including taking a fastball to the leg.

Skaggs’ widow, Carli, and his parents said in their lawsuit that the MLB team knew or should have known Kay was a drug addict and dealing painkillers to players.

“Tomorrow is the first day of the rest of their lives after six years of living with this,” Rusty Hardin, an attorney for the plaintiffs, told reporters.

The Angels contended that team officials would have gotten Skaggs help if they had known he was taking drugs.

“The death of Tyler Skaggs remains a tragedy, and this trial sheds light on the dangers of opioid use and the devastating effects it can have,” the team said in a statement Friday.

In 2019, the 27-year-old left-handed pitcher was found dead in the suburban Dallas hotel room where he was staying as the Angels were supposed to open a four-game series against the Texas Rangers. A coroner’s report said the player choked to death on his vomit, and a toxic mix of alcohol, fentanyl and oxycodone was found in his system.

Kay, a longtime Angels employee, was convicted in 2022 of providing Skaggs with the fentanyl-laced pill and sentenced to 22 years in prison. His criminal trial in Texas included testimony from five MLB players who said they received oxycodone from Kay at various times from 2017 to 2019.

During the civil trial in California, more than 40 witnesses testified about drug use and baseball, including how much money Skaggs was poised to make had he lived. They described how Kay got players massage appointments, tee times and even prescription medication and was found with plastic bags filled with pills at his home and later hospitalized for a drug overdose. Kay was sent on the Texas road trip shortly after returning to work from rehab, they said.

Witnesses also described how Skaggs struggled with painkillers earlier in his career and was found to have chopped up and snorted a pill when he died.

Skaggs had been a regular in the Angels’ starting rotation since late 2016 and struggled with injuries repeatedly. He previously played for the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Jurors began deliberations this week. Late Wednesday, they sent out a question for the court asking whether they got to assign punitive damages. They didn't work on Thursday and resumed deliberations Friday morning.

Upon releasing the jurors, Orange County Superior Court Judge H. Shaina Colover thanked them for their diligence. “That is why this matter was able to be resolved today,” she said.

Several jurors said they were heading into what many felt would be a tough issue — determining percentages of responsibility among Skaggs, Kay and the team. About a third of the group tended to side with plaintiffs, a third with the team and a third was in the middle in answering the 26-question verdict form, said Thach.

Juror Deborah Song said she was relieved the case settled after spending the last two months in court.

“I am so happy because that way I don’t have to put a number on somebody’s life,” Song said.

Attorney Russell Hardin Jr. right speaks in front of Tyler Skaggs' widow Carli Skaggs, center, and mother Debbie Skaggs, at left, after a settlement was reached in the wrongful death lawsuit by the family of the Los Angeles Angels pitcher Friday, Dec. 19, 2025, in Orange County Superior Court, in Santa Ana, Calif. (AP Photo/William Liang)

Attorney Russell Hardin Jr. hugs Tyler Skaggs' widow, Carli Skaggs, center, as Skaggs mother's Debbie smiles, at left, after a settlement was reached in the wrongful death lawsuit by the family of the Los Angeles Angels pitcher Friday, Dec. 19, 2025, in Orange County Superior Court, in Santa Ana, Calif. (AP Photo/William Liang)

John Carpino, center, president of the Los Angeles Angels, sits with Kevin Dorse, left, and Todd Theodora as they wait for a verdict in the wrongful death lawsuit by the family of pitcher Tyler Skaggs against the Los Angeles Angels in Orange County Superior Court in Santa Ana, Calif., Friday, Dec. 19, 2025. (Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times via AP, Pool)

Tyler Skaggs mother, Debbie Skaggs, center, smiles in court after a settlement was reached in the wrongful death lawsuit by the family of pitcher Tyler Skaggs against the Los Angeles Angels in Orange County Superior Court in Santa Ana, Calif., Friday, Dec. 19, 2025. (Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times via AP, Pool)

Tyler Skaggs mother, Debbie Skaggs, center, gets a hug in court after a settlement was reached in the wrongful death lawsuit by the family of pitcher Tyler Skaggs against the Los Angeles Angels in Orange County Superior Court in Santa Ana, Calif., Friday, Dec. 19, 2025. (Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times via AP, Pool)

Attorney Daniel Dutko gives his closing arguments in the wrongful death lawsuit by the family of pitcher Tyler Skaggs against the Los Angeles Angels in Orange County Superior Court, in Santa Ana, Calif., Monday, Dec. 15, 2025. (Paul Bersebach/The Orange County Register via AP, Pool)

Attorney Daniel Dutko gives his closing arguments in the wrongful death lawsuit by the family of pitcher Tyler Skaggs against the Los Angeles Angels in Orange County Superior Court in Santa Ana, Calif., Monday, Dec. 15, 2025. (Paul Bersebach/The Orange County Register via AP, Pool)

Judge H. Shaina Colover listens as Daniel Dutko gives his closing arguments in the wrongful death lawsuit by the family of pitcher Tyler Skaggs against the Los Angeles Angels in Orange County Superior Court in Santa Ana, Calif., Monday, Dec. 15, 2025. (Paul Bersebach/The Orange County Register via AP, Pool)

Attorneys listen as Daniel Dutko gives his closing arguments in the wrongful death lawsuit by the family of pitcher Tyler Skaggs against the Los Angeles Angels in Orange County Superior Court in Santa Ana, Calif., Monday, Dec. 15, 2025. (Paul Bersebach/The Orange County Register via AP, Pool)

FILE - In this June 29, 2019, file photo, Los Angeles Angels starting pitcher Tyler Skaggs throws to an Oakland Athletics batter during a baseball game in Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez, File)

NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. stock market is slipping Thursday after oil prices resumed their climb.

The S&P 500 fell 0.3% and is on track for a fourth drop in five days after setting its all-time high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 83 points, or 0.2%, as of 1:01 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.4% lower.

A halt in the torrid run for stocks benefiting from the artificial-intelligence boom has slowed the U.S. market recently. Not even another better-than-expected profit report from Nvidia was enough to kick it back into gear.

The chip company reported stronger profit and revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected, while also forecasting revenue for the current quarter that cleared analysts’ estimates. “The buildout of AI factories — the largest infrastructure expansion in human history — is accelerating at extraordinary speed,” CEO Jensen Huang said.

But such performances and such talk have become routine, and Nvidia's stock swiveled between losses and gains before falling 1.4%.

Some analysts said the weakness may have simply been because investors were locking in profits after Nvidia’s stock had soared nearly 70% over the prior year, more than double the S&P 500’s 27% jump. The broad AI industry is also getting criticism for becoming too expensive, as well as too circular as Nvidia has bought ownership stakes in companies that use its own chips that drive Nvidia’s revenue.

Pressure built on Wall Street, meanwhile, as the price for a barrel of Brent crude oil climbed 1.7% to $106.81 and trimmed its loss for the week. Oil prices have been swinging up and down with uncertainty about how long the war with Iran will keep the Strait of Hormuz shut, which is preventing oil tankers from exiting the Persian Gulf to deliver crude.

The higher oil prices pushed Treasury yields upward in the bond market, resuming rises following a slowdown the day before.

Climbing yields have cranked up the pressure on financial markets worldwide. They're slowing economies and weighing on prices for stocks and all kinds of other investments. Besides driving up rates for mortgages, high yields could also curtail companies’ borrowing to build the AI data centers that have been supporting the U.S. economy’s growth recently.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.61% from 4.57% late Wednesday.

It had gotten near 4.63% in the morning, after a report gave the latest signal that the U.S. job market remains in better shape than economists expected. The number of U.S. workers applying for unemployment benefits last week unexpectedly declined in an indication of fewer layoffs.

But yields eased a bit following a mixed preliminary report showing weaker-than-expected growth for business activity among U.S. services businesses and improved growth for U.S. manufacturers. Companies are feeling the effects of accelerating inflation and are seeing subdued growth in their order books, the preliminary data from an S&P Global survey said.

“The damaging economic impact from the war in the Middle East is becoming increasingly evident in the business surveys,” according to Chris Williamson, chief business economist at S&P Global Market Intelligence.

Inflation is worsening even beyond the high oil prices caused by the Iran war, while U.S. households are showing widespread discouragement about the economy.

Elsewhere on Wall Street, Walmart fell 7.2% following its profit report. The retailer delivered another quarter of impressive revenue but offered up weaker forecasts for upcoming profit than analysts expected.

On the winning side of Wall Street was Ralph Lauren, which jumped 12.2% after reporting stronger profit and revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected.

In stock markets abroad, indexes were mixed in Europe following bigger moves in Asia.

South Korea’s Kospi Kospi soared 8.4% thanks to strength for technology stocks. Samsung Electronics jumped 8.5% after its labor union and management reached an agreement late Wednesday that averted a strike. SK Hynix, a chip company partnering with Nvidia, surged 11.2%.

Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 jumped 3.1%, while indexes fell 1% in Hong Kong and 2% in Shanghai.

AP Business Writers Matt Ott and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed.

Trader Aaron Ford works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Thursday, May 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

Trader Edward McCarthy works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Wednesday, May 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

A Global Medical Response helicopter sits in front of the New York Stock Exchange before the planned IPO of GMR Solutions, Inc., Wednesday, May 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

A person walks in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei index at a securities firm Monday, May 18, 2026, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

Currency traders watch monitors at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, May 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

A currency trader talks on the phone near a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won, left, at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, May 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)