A dispute over testimony from Los Angeles Angels vice president for human resources Deborah Johnston has intensified as the wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of former pitcher Tyler Skaggs enters its sixth week. The conflict stems from a perjury accusation raised by the Skaggs family’s attorney, Rusty Hardin, regarding Johnston’s statements about the team’s handling of former communications director Eric Kay.

On Friday, Angels attorney Todd Theodora said the judge had “denied taking any action” on the perjury claim and asserted that the Skaggs family’s legal team “dropped the matter,” as reported by Sam Blum of The Athletic. However, court transcripts and a subsequent filing indicate the issue remains unresolved. According to records from a sidebar discussion held outside the courtroom, the judge made no formal ruling about Johnston’s testimony and suggested the matter could be addressed later, potentially through testimony from Major League Baseball during the Skaggs family’s rebuttal case.

Johnston testified last week that the Angels notified MLB about Kay’s drug use and that the league and team coordinated his testing and treatment. She acknowledged that this differed from her deposition but said she reviewed “new information in documents,” though she could not recall which documents specifically. MLB disputed her account, stating, “Neither MLB or The Drug Oversight Committee … was notified of or involved in the treatment of Eric Kay.”

Per Blum's reporting, Hardin believes “perjury had been committed by (Deborah) Johnston” and requested permission to issue a mid-trial subpoena to MLB. He disputed the Angels’ characterization of events, saying, “Any suggestion that the judge has ruled on this matter is untrue, and inaccurate. And any suggestion that we’ve abandoned the matter is simply not true.”

The sidebar transcript shows the judge cautioning Hardin for raising the allegation at the end of the court day but acknowledging why the testimony prompted concern. She also noted that changes between deposition and live testimony are not unusual.

The Skaggs family argues the Angels knew or should have known Kay was distributing pills to players. Kay is serving a 22-year federal sentence after providing the fentanyl-laced pill that caused Skaggs’ death on July 1, 2019.