Rebecca Grossman and former major leaguer Scott Erickson are to blame for the deaths of two young brothers who were struck by Grossman’s SUV in a Westlake Village crosswalk, a jury decided Wednesday.
Grossman, 62, is already serving 15 years to life in prison after being convicted of second-degree murder for fatally striking Mark and Jacob Iskander, 11 and 8, with her vehicle on Sept. 29, 2020.
A jury, after an eight-week trial, awarded the boys’ parents, Nancy and Karim Iskander, and their younger brother, Zachary, $176 million in wrongful death and emotional distress damages.
Erickson, 58, was in a separate SUV ahead of Grossman’s vehicle and also was negligent in the deadly crash, the jury found. Although it was Grossman’s Mercedes that struck the boys, jurors found that the pair “acted in concert with each other in the course of their activities leading to the fatal collision.”
Jurors decided that Grossman also acted with malice and oppression and Erickson acted with malice, oppression, or fraud. That decision means the jury can also issue punitive damages, which could result in millions more being awarded. A second phase of the trial to deal with those damages is set to begin Thursday.
According to witness testimony at the criminal and civil trials, the pair had been drinking margaritas at a Westlake Village cantina before they decided to get behind the wheel in their separate SUVs and drive to Grossman’s home to watch a presidential debate.
Around the same time, Mark and Jacob Iskander, 11 and 8, were with their mother and younger sibling approaching a crosswalk at Triunfo Canyon Road. Experts testified that Erickson and Grossman were speeding along the road. As the family entered the intersection, Erickson drove by them and avoided a collision. But Grossman did not and struck the two boys at 73 mph, according to expert witnesses.
The Iskander family sued Grossman and Erickson as part of a wrongful death lawsuit, claiming the pair were negligent in the September 2020 crash. Their attorney, Brian Panish, asked the jurors to award more than $430 million to his clients, arguing the evidence showed that Grossman and Erickson were street racing and the verdict would be a “day of reckoning” for the pair.
“It’s not an accident when you speed, and you drink, and you drive impaired,” said Panish, on behalf of Nancy and Karim Iskander, and their surviving son, Zachary. “Who would act like that except someone who thinks they can do whatever they want and there’s no consequences?”
Jurors in Van Nuys began deliberating Tuesday morning after closing arguments, where attorneys for Grossman and Erickson argued that, although the incident was tragic, there was no evidence they were racing or impaired that would justify an award of hundreds of millions of dollars.
Grossman is the co-founder of the Grossman Burn Foundation and is the the wife of prominent plastic surgeon Dr. Peter Grossman. They were separated at the time of the crash. Erickson is a former pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers.
During the trial, Nancy Iskander testified that she began to cross Triunfo Canyon Road at Saddle Mountain Drive on inline skates with her youngest son, Zachary, next to her on his scooter. Mark, on a skateboard, and Jacob, also wearing inline skates, followed a little more than an arm’s length behind. She said Erickson’s black Mercedes narrowly missed her and her boys.
Rebecca Grossman, left, at the Van Nuys Courthouse during her criminal trial in February 2024.
(Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
Grossman’s vehicle hit the boys while going 73 mph, Panish told the jury. Mark’s body was found more than 250 feet away with the vehicle’s grille marks on his body. Jacob was found on the other side of the road, experts testified.
Through Grossman’s criminal trial as well as the civil case in Van Nuys, Erickson’s attorneys sought to separate his client’s behavior from that of his ex-lover, Grossman, saying they were not racing after leaving the restaurant. During closing arguments before the jury Tuesday, Grossman’s attorney, Esther Holm, echoed that claim.
She told jurors that her client was not impaired by alcohol or valium during the crash and was traveling at about 52 mph, around 7 mph over the speed limit, nor was she racing. Grossman did not try to leave the scene after the crash, Holm said.
“She wasn’t racing; that’s all speculation,’’ Holm said, maintaining that Grossman never saw the children before her car struck them because she was distracted by the boys’ mother “diving out of the way” of Erickson’s vehicle.
Karim Iskander, right, and wife Nancy, center, outside the Van Nuys courthouse in June 2024.
(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)
Beyond that, Holm told jurors, trees and cars limited the motorists’ ability to see the pedestrian crossing sign that warns of the crosswalk ahead, and she said data from Grossman’s Mercedes had anomalies that mean they should disregard it.
She also reminded the jury that the city had received a complaint about that intersection before, saying, “The city’s role is significant as much as Ms. Grossman’s and Mr. Erickson’s. The city was on notice of the problem.”
Jeff Braun, Erickson’s lawyer, emphasized to the jury that his client never hit either boy, and that the evidence showed the retired pitcher was not at fault or negligent in the deaths.
“My client made some stupid, stupid decisions related to this case,” he said. “My client lied to the police. He lied to his lawyers in this case. And that’s a hard, hard hole to dig out of.”
He argued to jurors Monday that a “reasonable sum for this loss is $10 million.”
Panish said Braun’s math would amount to $340 a day in terms of the boys’ lives, and he was seeking about $430 million.
“She speeds and kills them; he’s racing her,” Panish said. “Why are we here? Because they don’t get it. They don’t admit a single bit of responsibility.”