Rebecca Grossman, co-founder of the Grossman Burn Foundation, has been ordered to pay $21 million in punitive damages for the 2020 fatal crash that killed two Westlake Village boys while ex-Dodger Scott Erickson was directed to pay $1.17 million.
Grossman, who was convicted in 2024 of killing 11-year-old Mark Iskander and his 8-year-old brother Jacob after driving her Mercedes SUV at high speed and striking them in a crosswalk, was found liable in a civil trial last week. While Erickson wasn’t charged with murder and manslaughter during the criminal trial, he was found negligent in the boys’ deaths in the same civil trial.
Last week, jurors had awarded the Iskander family $176 million in compensatory damages. But they determined that punitive damages may be warranted because Grossman and Erickson acted with malice — now bringing the total award to $198 million.
With Wednesday’s verdict, the victims’ family were awarded a total of $198 million.
Karim and Nancy Iskander, Mark and Jacob’s parent, expressed gratitude to jurors and those who supported the family through the most excruciating period of their lives.
“Today we thank you, and we thank the jury for delivering the punitive damages verdict today and, along with the previous wrongful death verdict,” the couple said, adding their hearts remained broken. “(No) verdict can ease the pain of losing our two sweet boys. It is a profoundly sad day when a jury is forced to place a dollar value on the lives of our children.”
The Iskanders said they expect Grossman and Erickson to appeal the verdict but added the legal proceedings, people had a chance to get to know Mark and Jacob.
“Sleep tight, Mark and Jacob. We love you,” the statement from the parents said.
Brian Panish, the lawyer for the Iskander family, said the jury determined Grossman and Erickson need to be held accountable.
“(Jurors) understood that these people needed to be punished. They punished them,” Panish said. “They sent a message to other drunk drivers and other people that speed and race and protect our children. They’re vulnerable.”
Legal analyst Royal Oakes said the punitive damages award for the victims means jurors were “angry” while listening to the testimony.
“The lawyer for the parents was able to accomplish that by showing that Dr. Grossman was trying to hide assets, and he and his wife were basically trash-talking the mother of the dead boys,” Oakes said.
But Grossman and Erickson may have avoided the worst-case scenario because, according to Oakes, punitive damages are often much bigger than regular damages.
“For example, if a big company was ordered to pay $1 million, it’ not uncommon for the jury to say, ‘We’ve got to send a message and make them pay $10 million in punitive,'” Oakes explained. “But here, they gave $176 million in regular, and the punitive aren’t supposed to wipe out people. It’s supposed to take a chuck of their money, and so the $21 million accomplishes that.”
An appeals court panel upheld the conviction of Rebecca Grossman who sentenced to 15 years to life in prison for killing two boys in Westlake Village.
The civil lawsuit was filed in 2021 by the Iskander family, alleging Grossman and Erickson had drinks together on the night of Sept. 28, 2020 before racing down on Triunfo Canyon Road and striking Mark and Jacob.
The civil trial included testimony from the boys’ parents, law enforcement officers, crash scene investigation experts and a psychiatrist, who testified that Nancy Iskander has demonstrated multiple symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder since witnessing Grossman run over and kill two of her sons.
On the stand, Nancy Iskander described events like birthdays and Mother’s Day.
“Part of me is simply dead,” Iskander said. “Part of my heart is gone.”
Iskander said she replays the tragic chain of events that led to the deaths of her sons in her head, six years after the deadly crash. She said the family often went on walks in the same area.
“Their lives will never be the same,” Iskander attorney Brian Panish said in his closing argument. “He (Erickson) and Rebecca Grossman deserve each other because they’re both the same kind of person.”
But the attorneys for Grossman and Erickson disputed the claims that they were drunkenly racing at the time of the collision.
The Iskander family lawyer had initially demanded $20 million from Grossman and $1 million from Erickson in punitive damages.
Grossman, who was found guilty of two counts each of second-degree murder and vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence and one count of hit-and-run driving in 2024, is serving a sentence of 15 years to life in prison. In March, a panel of the Second District Court of Appeal upheld the criminal case conviction.
During her criminal trial, prosecutors argued that Grossman had been drinking with Erickson before the crash and was driving her SUV at 70 mph in a 45-mph zone. After striking Mark and Jacob at a marked crosswalk, Grossman was accused of continuing to drive until her disabled vehicle came to a stop farther up the road.