RIP Tyler Skaggs

The toxicity of it is the real thing. Obviously, heroin can be fatal, but usually not right away. It and other "normal" drugs from the past, most users will gradually build up tolerance and eventually overdose, with the time varying on the drug. Fentanyl, it's something like 1 mg = 10 mg of heroin, making it much easier to overdose. Street level dealers are the ones currently facing the hard time for dealing heroin laced with fentanyl, so it's not usually at their level that its being added in, but higher at the cartel level because the consequences are somewhat irrelevant for them. (If you're dealing major weight and get caught, you're probably going away for life anyway, or you're isolated from U.S. prosecution anyway, so what do you care if you mix some in to make it more profitable?)

 

Posted on the MLB thread, I think the Angels are screwed here. When their agents were not only complicit but actively participated in providing the drugs, they’re going to have to open the pocket books.

 

De-d'bing it.

 

Fucking agents in the mix. Never an Angels fan, and in fact I've delighted in their fails. But not here.

 

NASCAR just held the Pocono Organics CBD 325 this past weekend.

 

Wait 'til discovery looms. Skaggs' estate will push for a settlement.

 

That is a heck of an uphill battle of a claim by the family.

 

I guess, but do the Angels want to go through discovery either? There's a lot of incentive on both sides to get a settlement, although I don't know if the magic number would be in the seven or eight figure range.

 

I think it will be the organization pushing for the settlement. If anything the fact that Tyler was an addict puts the onus even more on the Angles since a member of the organization was supplying him. It is one thing if they simply looked the other way or didn’t push hard enough for treatment. When you actively give him the implements of his death when the organization was in a unique position to intervene and had the resources to provide care, it’s them who have the uphill battle.

The Angels’ lawyers are going to do whatever they can to keep this out of the courtroom and lower the settlement number, but the Angels will be the one pushing for it.

 

Even if its true that an Angels' employee supplied Fentanyl to Skaggs, that doesn't mean that the Angels are the only responsible party, Mr. Skaggs had a great deal of responsibility here, he was not some kid at school entrusted to the school. He was a grown man who was (presumably) seeking out the illegal substance. So at most, the Angels are what, 10% at fault? If you're the family, do you want the defendants to start gathering evidence as to where else he was requesting supply (and receiving it)? How long he had been doing it?

I don't wish this on anyone, not Mr. Skaggs, not his family, but, yes, as a lawyer, I'm just reminding the audience of the legal process involved.

 

The legal process would involve a jury trial, though. And his widowed wife, who now runs a charity organization in his memory, testifying. I don't think Skaggs is going to be seen as blameless in this, but think of how the attorney is going to paint it - The Angels knew he had a problem with pain management and drugs, and kept letting him pitch - and I think it's a situation the Angels want to avoid too.

 

And that’s why it’s obvious I’m not a lawyer.