Jurors in Van Nuys are deliberating the financial responsibility for the tragic deaths of 11-year-old Mark Iskander and 8-year-old Jacob Iskander, who were killed in a crosswalk in Westlake Village in September 2020.
Closing arguments were presented on Monday, with the Iskander family seeking $439 million in damages from Rebecca Grossman and former Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Scott Erickson.
Attorney Brian Panish, representing the Iskander family, claims Grossman and Erickson were racing and drinking before the crash. Panish argued that Erickson attempted to evade responsibility by lying to the police and switching vehicles. He stated, “Hiding in the bushes, admitted lying repeatedly to the police, and admitted switching vehicles and cold-plating… Who does that? That’s a criminal act.”
According to ABC7, Erickson’s attorney, Jeff Braun, countered that Erickson was neither impaired nor racing. Grossman’s attorney, Esther Holm, argued that the crash was caused by a hazardous crosswalk design, not by Grossman racing or being drunk.
The boys’ mother, Nancy Iskander, gave a tearful testimony, recounting the moments when the SUVs, driven by Grossman and Erickson, sped through the crosswalk. She described the horror of seeing her sons disappear as the vehicles approached. “I was crossing the road. I was not crossing the racetrack,” she testified, as reported by the Los Angeles Times.
Grossman was convicted of second-degree murder in 2024 and is serving a 15-year-to-life sentence. The civil trial seeks to determine the financial compensation owed to the Iskander family.
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