Attorney seeks $21M in punitive damages from Rebecca Grossman, ex-Dodger in deaths of 2 brothers
Last week, jurors awarded the boys' family $176 million in compensatory damages. The jury will now deliberate on the total amount.
LOS ANGELES (CNS) -- Socialite Rebecca Grossman should pay $20 million in punitive damages, and former Dodgers pitcher Scott Erickson $1 million to punish both for the deaths of two boys who were fatally struck by Grossman's car on a Westlake Village street, allegedly while the couple was racing, an attorney for the children's family told a jury on Tuesday.
Last week, the same Van Nuys Superior Court jurors awarded the boys' family $176 million in compensatory damages. The panel also found that Grossman and Erickson acted with malice, leading to a punitive damages phase of trial. The jury will now deliberate on the total amount.
The plaintiffs in the civil suit are Nancy Iskander and her husband, Karim, as well as her son, Zachary. The lawsuit filed in January 2021 contends that Grossman and Erickson had cocktails on Sept. 29, 2020, and the two later engaged in a speed contest along Triunfo Canyon Road until they reached the crosswalk and the children -- Mark and Jacob Iskander, aged 11 and 8 -- were struck at about 80 mph in a 45 mph zone by Grossman.
"Their lives will never be the same," the Iskanders' 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."
SEE ALSO: Jury weighs punitive damages in crash that killed 2 young brothers
Attorneys for Grossman and Erickson, however, argued that their clients were not impaired and were not racing at the time of the accident. Erickson's attorney, Jeff Braun, suggested that compensatory damages against Erickson be capped at $10 million.
In their court papers, the Iskanders' attorneys contend that 62-year-old Grossman tried to flee the scene and likely would have succeeded had her vehicle not automatically shut down due to it sensing the massive impact that had just occurred.
The Grossman Burn Foundation co-founder then lied to law enforcement about her speed and how much she had to drink, and contended she did not know why her airbag suddenly deployed despite her vehicle sustaining massive front-end damage, the Iskanders' attorneys further state. Grossman and Erickson have blamed each other for hitting the boys.
Grossman 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. Grossman was found guilty on Feb. 23, 2024, of two counts each of second-degree murder and vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence, and one count of hit-and-run driving.
Grossman's husband, Dr. Peter Grossman, is a renowned plastic surgeon whose father, Dr. Richard Grossman, founded the Grossman Burn Center in West Hills. Peter Grossman is a defendant in the case because he owned the car his wife was driving.
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