Jury awards over US$175 million to family of brothers struck and killed by Rebecca Grossman’s vehicle

Nancy Iskander speaks outside Van Nuys Courthouse on Monday, June 10, 2024, in Van Nuys, Calif., after attending the sentencing hearing in the murder trial of Rebecca Grossman, who is charged in the deaths of their two sons, Mark, 11, and Jacob, 8. ((AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

LOS ANGELES -- A jury has found socialite Rebecca Grossman and former Dodger Scott Erickson liable for the deaths of two boys who were struck and killed in a Westlake Village crosswalk by Grossman’s car as the two were allegedly racing.

The jury awarded US$176 million in damages to Nancy Iskander and her husband, Karim, as well as her son, Zachary.

The $176 million damages penalty also applies to Grossman’s husband, Dr. Peter Grossman. He was a defendant in the lawsuit because he owned the car Rebecca Grossman was driving, and the jury found he had given her permission to drive it.

Rebecca Grossman, co-founder of the Grossman Burn Foundation, is already serving a 15-year-to-life sentence for her 2024 conviction on two counts each of second-degree murder, vehicular manslaughter, and one count of hit-and-run driving.

Eleven-year-old Mark Iskander and his brother, 8-year-old Jacob, were struck by Grossman’s Mercedes-Benz SUV as they were crossing the street with their family in a marked crosswalk in 2020.

Jurors found that Grossman and Erickson both acted with conscious disregard for the boys’ safety and awarded punitive damages in the wrongful death lawsuit.

Prosecutors said that Grossman and her then-boyfriend, Erickson, had been out for drinks and were heading toward her home, racing in separate vehicles, when she struck the boys.

Data from her car showed that she was driving at about 73 mph through the residential neighborhood at the time of the crash, according to the district attorney’s office.

Grossman continued driving after hitting the boys, eventually stopping about a quarter-mile away from the scene when her vehicle automatically shut off. The older boy died at the scene, and his 8-year-old sibling died at a hospital.

The jury also found that Grossman and Erickson acted with malice, potentially triggering a punitive damages phase of trial that could result in further penalties.

It was unclear how the damages would be divided among the three defendants.

By Julie Sharp