Grossman and Erickson were found liable in the deaths of two young boys killed in a hit-and-run while the former couple were engaging in street racing in 2020
Credit: Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times via Getty; Michael Tullberg/Getty
NEED TO KNOW
- A Los Angeles jury decided that Rebecca Grossman would be ordered to pay $21 million in punitive damages, and former L.A. Dodger Scott Erickson was directed to pay $1.17 million
- The family of Mark and Jacob Iskander, who were 11 and 8, will receive a total of nearly $200 million in damages after Grossman and Erickson were found liable for the hit-and-run that killed the two boys
- The fatal crash occurred in Westlake Village, Calif., in 2020, and prior reports indicate that Grossman and Erickson were engaging in street racing when they crashed
A Los Angeles jury has ordered Rebecca Grossman and former Los Angeles Dodgers player Scott Erickson to pay more than $20 million in punitive damages after both were found liable for killing two boys in a 2020 hit-and-run accident.
The jury decided that Grossman would be ordered to pay $21 million in damages to the Iskander family, who lost two sons in the accident. Erickson was ordered to pay an additional $1.17 million.
The jury's decision came on Wednesday, June 10, nearly a week after it found Grossman, 62, and Erickson, 58, responsible for the fatal hit-and-run, according to NBC Los Angeles. Mark and Jacob Iskander, who were 11 and 8, died in the Westlake Village, Calif., crash.
"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 boys' parents, Nancy and Karim Iskander, said in a statement to NBC Los Angeles, adding that "no verdict can ease the pain."
In total, Grossman and Erickson have been ordered to pay $198 million in compensatory and punitive damages to the family, per NBC.
"It is a profoundly sad day when a jury is forced to place a dollar value on the lives of our children," the couple's statement continued, per the outlet.
"There is no celebration for the Iskander family," the family's attorney, Brian Panish, tells PEOPLE of the jury's decision. "Their lives will never be the same and there will never be a day when they don't think about Mark and Jacob."
Panish added that the Iskander family appreciates the jury "recognizing the magnitude of their loss by their verdict."
"Mark and Jacob's memories will live forever and they will be greatly missed but never forgotten," Panish concluded.
Following an eight-week civil trial, the jury initially decided to award the victims' parents and their younger brother, Zachary, $176 million in wrongful death and emotional distress damages, The Los Angeles Times previously reported.
The jury found that both parties acted with malice, opening the door for punitive damages, Fox 11 reported. Grossman's husband, Peter Grossman, is also named as a defendant, as he owned the vehicle Grossman was driving when she committed the hit-and-run.
While Erickson was in a separate vehicle ahead of Grossman on the street at the time of the incident, the jury determined that he was negligent, and that they “acted in concert with each other in the course of their activities leading to the fatal collision," according to The Los Angeles Times.
Previous reports alleged that Grossman and Erickson were engaging in street racing at the time of the fatal crash.
Credit: Archangel Michael Coptic Orthodox Church of Ventura County
Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Sign up for PEOPLE's free True Crime newsletter for breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases.
In March, a three-judge panel of California's Second Appellate District upheld Grossman's double murder convictions from February 2024, according to a press release from the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office. She was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison.
“Rebecca Grossman was rightfully convicted by a jury of her peers for the callous murder of two children when she chose to drive up to 81 mph on a residential street after drinking at a bar, knowing full well that this could have deadly results,” Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan J. Hochman said in March.
In January 2021, Erickson was charged with one misdemeanor count of reckless driving, but the charge was later dismissed, his lawyer Mark Werksman told The New York Times.
Read the full article here
