The family of two boys killed in a hit-and-run crash has been awarded $176 million after the driver and her boyfriend played “a high-speed game of chicken” that ended in tragedy.
Mark and Jacob Iskander, aged 11 and eight, were struck by a car while crossing the street with their mother and younger sibling Zachary in Westlake Village, L.A. County, on September 29, 2020.
Driver Rebecca Grossman, a 62 year-old a socialite formerly married to well-known plastic surgeon Peter Grossman, is currently serving a 15-year-to-life sentence in state prison for felony murder.
On Wednesday, a jury in a follow-up civil trial found that Grossman and her then-boyfriend, former professional baseball player Scott Erickson, had been negligent and acted with malice.
The criminal trial heard Grossman and Erickson had raced each other through the streets in competing black and white Mercedes-Benz SUVs after allegedly drinking margaritas at a nearby restaurant.
Grossman, who failed to stop after the collision, was ultimately convicted by a Van Nuys court in February 2024 of two felony counts of murder, two felony counts of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence and one felony count of hit-and-run driving resulting in death.
Erickson, a pitcher for the L.A. Dodgers, denied wrongdoing and avoided criminal charges by agreeing to film a public information video about the importance of careful driving.
Reacting to the jury’s decision, Los Angeles civil litigator Neama Rahmani told The Los Angeles Times that the case “had everything you need for a nuclear verdict,” including the tragic deaths of two children, “a parent and child who witnessed their deaths” and allegations of driving under the influence and street racing.
“This was a big win for the plaintiffs,” he added.
However, the Iskander family’s attorney Brian Panish had asked the jury to award his clients $375 million, more than twice the amount decided.
“Is that a lot of money?” he had asked. “Yeah. But it’s a tremendous loss… What could be worse for a parent than to see your kids run down by a drunk driver?”
Proceedings are set to resume Thursday to decide on any further punitive damages.
“We have more work to do” Panish said after the initial compensation verdict was read out Wednesday, per Courthouse News Service.
During Grossman’s criminal trial two years ago, the boys’ mother said the defendant and Erickson had approached the crossing at speeds north of 70mph, “zig-zagging” between lanes “as if they were playing”.
Grossman did not stop after striking the boys, even after her Mercedes’ airbags deployed, and she was later found by police officers a third of a mile down the road.
“They didn’t stop before the intersection,” Nancy Iskander recounted tearfully. “They didn’t stop at the intersection. They didn’t stop when an 11-year-old was on the hood of the car... Nobody stopped.”
Iskander later said that the sight of Grossman in handcuffs brought her little comfort: “No one wishes that on anyone. I promise I do not have any hate for her. My heart broke for her children... It wasn’t easy, but it will bring me closure.”
Grossman’s attorneys attempted to blame Erickson during the trial and argued the city of Westlake Village was at fault for maintaining an unsafe crossing point, claiming overgrown trees had obscured her view.
Erickson said during his own trial testimony that he was not responsible for the boys’ deaths, denied racing Grossman and denied driving above 50mph but did admit to lying to police officers about which of his cars he had been using that night.
“My client made some stupid, stupid decisions related to this case,” his attorney Jeff Braun told the jury. “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.”
Legal proceedings in the case dragged on long after Grossman’s sentencing, causing further upset to the Iskanders. The defendant wrote emotional letters to both the family and Superior Court Judge Joseph Brandolino expressing her sorrow over the incident and launching an ultimately unsuccessful appeal.
