Grossman, Erickson ordered to pay more than $22M in punitive damages combined for fatal crash

LOS ANGELES (CNS) -- Jurors on Wednesday ordered socialite Rebecca Grossman to pay $21 million in punitive damages and former Dodger Scott Erickson to pay $1.17 million in punitive damages to the family of two boys who were fatally struck by Grossman's car on a Westlake Village street in September 2020.

The awards were slightly higher than those recommended by the plaintiffs' attorney, Brian J. Panish, who had urged jurors to assess $20 million in punitive damages against Grossman and $1 million against Erickson. The same Van Nuys Superior Court jury last week awarded the Iskander family $176 million in compensatory damages.

The panel also found that Grossman and Erickson acted with malice, triggering a punitive damages phase of the trial. Jurors began deliberating Tuesday.

The plaintiffs in the civil suit are Nancy and Karim Iskander and their son, Zachary. The lawsuit, filed in January 2021, alleges that Grossman and Erickson consumed had cocktails on Sept. 29, 2020, before engaging in a speed contest along Triunfo Canyon Road. The suit contends the race ended when Grossman's vehicle struck brothers Mark and Jacob Iskander, ages 11 and 8, in a crosswalk at about 80 mph in a 45 mph zone.

"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."

Attorneys for Grossman and Erickson, however, argued that their clients were not impaired and were not racing at the time of the accident.

Grossman attorney Esther Holm told jurors that a message has been sent'' already to Grossman, with last week's $176 million compensatory damages verdict.

"You don't have to award punitive damages," she said, adding that the boys' deaths were the result of "an unintended accident."

In their court papers, the Iskander attorneys contend that the 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 Iskander 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 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. The state Supreme Court on Wednesday declined to hear Grossman's further appeal.

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.