Civil trial opens for socialite that killed two young brothers in hit-and-run

LOS ANGELES (CN) — The wrongful death civil trial over a 2020 hit-and-run crash that killed 11-year-old Mark Iskander and his 8-year-old brother Jacob as they crossed the street with their mother got underway in a San Fernando Valley Courthouse on Friday.

Rebecca Grossman, the wife of renowned plastic surgeon Peter Grossman, is currently serving 15-years to life in prison, after a jury found her guilty of two counts of second degree murder.

The civil trial will tread over similar ground, but features another high-profile defendant: Scott Erickson, a former major league baseball pitcher who was dating Grossman at the time, and who was driving a separate car at the time of the crash.

“The most important thing for the Iskanders was family,” the plaintiffs’ attorney Brian Panish told the jury. “Their children were their joy, their strength. They had such a great family unit.”

The two brothers, he said, “grew up together, played together, and unfortunately, they died together.”

During her criminal trial, Grossman — whose car was found badly damaged — tried to blame the fatal crash on Erickson. Erickson was not called to testify then, but in this trial, he is expected to be called by the plaintiffs as a hostile witness, while Rebecca Grossman will likely not be heard from directly.

Neither of the Grossmans, nor Erickson, was in the court on Friday, though Erickson, who lives in Las Vegas, attended parts of jury selection. Erickson was charged with reckless driving, and avoided jail time by agreeing to take part in a public service announcement about safe driving.

Erickson’s attorney, Deborah Tropp, said the former pitcher was only going 50 to 55 miles per hour when he spotted the Iskanders crossing the street. It was then, Tropp said, that he made “a crucial decision.”

“Mr. Erickson will tell you that if he had slammed on his brakes, he was concerned he would have hit the kids,” Tropp told the jury. “He made the decision to speed up a bit more — he knew he could clear the intersection safely and not harm the children.”

Esther Holm, the Grossmans’ attorney, argued that there were other factors involved in causing the fatal crash, including a curve in the road that obscured the intersection, and “issues with the roadway signage and lack of lighting.” And on the part of investigators, she said there was “a rush to judgment to determine that the entire accident was the fault of Rebecca Grossman” — one that ignored Erickson.

At the time, Rebecca Grossman was separated from her husband. She had been over a friend’s house for drinks, and then met Erickson at a Mexican restaurant, where the couple drank margaritas. According to numerous eye witnesses, they appeared to be racing each other after they left in separate cars, weaving back and forth between lanes at high speeds. Both defense attorneys denied their clients were racing each other, or anyone else.

Data recovered from Grossman’s vehicle shows she was driving as fast as 81 miles per hour three seconds before crash, and only began to lightly break a second and a half later, hitting the children at around 73 miles per hour.

That day, Mark and Jacob Iskander were crossing a busy, 4-lane street in the city of Westlake Village with their mother and their 5-year-old brother Zachary, in the waning days of summer, just as the Covid-19 pandemic restrictions were starting to ease.

Nancy Iskander said she pushed Zachary and dove out of the way when she saw the car hurtling toward them. When she looked up, her other two sons had disappeared. Grossman had struck them both with her white Mercedes. Jacob was found 73 feet away, Mark 252 feet away.

After the crash, Grossman did not pull over, though her airbag deployed, which caused her car to automatically shut off. She coasted for a bit and came to a stop about a third of the mile away from the crash site. Police were called to her car, and Grossman was later found to be under the influence of alcohol — thought just under the legal limit — and prescription drugs. Holm insisted that Grossman was “not driving impaired.”

The trial is expected to last two months, and will include many of the same witnesses that took the stand during Grossman’s criminal trial, including another former ballplayer, Royce Clayton, an old friend of Erickson’s who was also at the Mexican restaurant with Erickson and Grossman.

During the criminal trial, Clayton told the jury that he and Erickson are no longer friends, explaining: “I just don’t understand how he could be so negligent, and be responsible for running down kids.”

Erickson’s testimony will be the first time the public will hear his side of the story.

If the jury sides with the plaintiffs, they will have the opportunity to award compensatory damages, which will include money to compensate the Iskanders for the loss of love and companionship for their two children. The jury will also be asked to award punitive damages, to punish the Grossmans and Erickson.

Now also a defendant in the civil trial, Peter Grossman, founder of the Grossman Burn Center, has stood by his wife, attending nearly every day of her criminal trial and openly defending her. In January, he appeared on Dr. Phil’s podcast and said, “There’s no way in my mind that Erickson could have avoided those children.”

Rebecca Grossman and Erickson had only been dating for a few months before the crash. Text messages between the two, obtained by the plaintiffs during discovery, made public in court filings, indicated that they remained amorous even after the tragedy. But their relationship soured, especially when Grossman’s defense strategy was revealed.

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