As jurors consider whether the disgraced socialite and her former baseball star lover should be held accountable for their deaths, the devastated parents of two young brothers slain in a hit-and-run by convicted killer Rebecca Grossman are requesting $439 million in damages.
In the wrongful death trial, Grossman, 64, and her ex-lover, former MLB star Scott Erickson, 58, are accused of racing each other in their Mercedes SUVs shortly before she killed Mark, 11, and eight-year-old Jacob Iskander in September 2020. The jury in Los Angeles started its second day of deliberations on Wednesday.
Grossman, 64, was found guilty in a 2024 criminal trial of killing the brothers with her speeding car, and she is currently serving a sentence of 15 years to life in jail.
Jurors must now determine whether the former Minnesota Twins pitcher bears some of the blame for the deadly collision as well as how much compensation the bereaved family should receive in a separate civil trial that is about to reach its eighth week.
Nancy and Karim Iskander’s devastated parents’ lawyer, Brian Panish, told the jury of eight women and four men, “These people didn’t invest in stocks,” to support their nearly half-billion dollar claim. They may have some, but they made an investment in their kids.
The Iskanders should receive $57 million in compensatory damages for the loss of Mark and Jacob’s “love and companionship” since the crash and a further $222 million for the loss of that companionship in the future, the seasoned attorney explained, breaking down the $439 million total.
Additionally, the lawyer requested that the jury grant Nancy Iskander $25 million for the “severe emotional distress” she has had since seeing her sons die, as well as an additional $75 million for future suffering.
Panish suggested that Zachary, their surviving son, should receive $20 million for past and $40 million for future substantial emotional suffering. Zachary was just five years old when he barely avoided being struck himself.
Jurors in the civil action against convicted murderer Rebecca Grossman must determine whether former Minnesota Twins pitcher Scott Erickson bears any of the blame for the deadly collision as well as how much compensation the two little boys’ distraught family should receive.
The wrongful death case filed by Nancy and Karim Iskander regarding the deaths of their boys Mark, 11, and Jacob, 8, who were struck and murdered while crossing a street in Westlake Village in September 2020, is currently in its second day of hearings.
In response, Grossman’s lawyer Esther Holm stated that her client, who is incarcerated, would be prepared to pay “reasonable damages,” but she did not specify how much.
Jeff Braun, Erickson’s attorney, proposed a $10 million settlement.
During the eighth week of the trial, jurors in the Van Nuys courtroom gathered behind closed doors on Wednesday with an eight-page, twenty-four-question “special verdict form,” attempting to determine whether or not the Iskanders should receive the compensatory damages Panish is requesting.
They are also being questioned about whether Erickson was careless and, if so, if that carelessness was a “substantial factor” in the boys’ deaths. The case’s presiding judge, Huey Cotton, has already found Grossman to be negligent.
The jury must also decide whether Grossman and Erickson “acted in concert” before the fatal collision.
Jurors are asked if Grossman and Erickson behaved “with malice or oppression” in questions 17 and 18 of the special verdict form.
The second verdict phase of the trial, which deals with separate punitive damages given for “despicable” behavior that resulted in the Iskander brothers’ deaths, is triggered if the response is “yes” to either or both of these questions.
After the panel members have heard testimony and evidence regarding Grossman and/or Erickson’s financial situation, the jury will assess those punitive damages at a subsequent hearing.
For the loss of their two boys, Karim and Nancy Iskander are requesting damages of over half a billion dollars.
Shortly before the collision in 2020, Grossman and Erickson were seen on camera at a fundraising event. In February 2022, Erickson’s criminal case was settled after he was accused of misdemeanor careless driving.
This image shows Grossman’s Mercedes following the collision. Even though the automobile was clearly damaged after she hit the youngsters, she continued to drive.
On September 29, 2020, after she and Erickson had both had margaritas at a nearby bar, Grossman’s speeding white Mercedes SUV struck the two kids at a pedestrian crossing in Westlake Village, close to Los Angeles, killing them.
She was found guilty on two charges of vehicular manslaughter and second-degree murder in addition to one hit-and-run.
During the civil trial, Erickson testified on the witness stand that he had lied to police about the amount of alcohol he had consumed prior to the fatal collision and that he had been found guilty of DUI in Nevada twelve years prior.
He also acknowledged that he had two black Mercedes SUVs that were illegally registered with the same license plate number at the time, so when police asked him to turn in the car he was driving at the time of the collision, he provided the incorrect vehicle for inspection.
However, the 6′ 4″ World Series-winning pitcher denied any involvement in the terrible pile-up.
He denied that he was racing Grossman, maintained that he wasn’t drunk, and refuted reports from witnesses that he was traveling between 80 and 100 miles per hour prior to the collision.
In his testimony, he claimed to have seen the two boys at the crosswalk as he sped through the intersection ahead of Grossman without colliding with them. However, he did not witness their mother Nancy grab her son Zachary and jump for their lives to avoid being struck by his black Mercedes SUV.
Attorneys for Grossman’s criminal case attempted to blame Erickson, who failed to appear at his ex-girlfriend’s six-week criminal trial, for the fatal collision.
Former baseball star Erickson fiercely disputes any involvement in the heinous pile-up for which his ex-lover Rebecca Grossman is incarcerated for at least 15 years.
However, he was simply accused of misdemeanor reckless driving, which was dropped after he made a public service broadcast emphasizing the need of driving safely.
The Iskanders designated Erickson as a defendant in their civil action, claiming he shared equal blame with Grossman for the fatal crash, even though there were no criminal charges against him.
In the civil trial, Grossman’s attorneys described the collision as a “tragic, horrible accident,” claimed that she was not “impaired” with drugs and alcohol as the Iskanders claimed, and stated that “there were other factors involved”—such as inadequate signage and lighting at the intersection—and that she did not see the boys on the crosswalk.
When Rebecca was divorced from her plastic surgeon husband, Dr. Peter Grossman, who is also a defendant in the action as the owner of the Mercedes she was driving at the time of the collision, Erickson was having an affair with Rebecca.
