Former MLB pitcher Scott Erickson testified Friday that he has little left of the roughly $46 million he earned during his career as a jury considers whether to award further damages against him and his former lover after they were found liable for the car-crash deaths of two young brothers in Westlake Village.
Rebecca Grossman, 62, is serving a sentence of 15 years to life in prison after she was convicted of second-degree murder for fatally striking Mark and Jacob Iskander, 11 and 8, with her Mercedes SUV on Sept. 29, 2020. A jury on Wednesday awarded their parents, Nancy and Karim Iskander, and their surviving brother $176 million in wrongful death and emotional distress damages after an eight-week civil trial.
Jurors are now weighing whether to award additional punitive damages against Grossman and Erickson.
Erickson, 58, was in a separate AMG Mercedes SUV ahead of Grossman’s vehicle and was also found negligent in the deadly crash. Jurors found that the pair “acted in concert with each other in the course of their activities, leading to the fatal collision.”
Erickson said not a day goes by without him wishing he did something different that day.
“I feel terrible about what happened. I feel really bad about my actions and some of the terrible behavior I did,” he said. “I have not been very honest. And no words can describe how I feel about what’s happened … I truly believe now if I had somehow been able to stop, I probably, possibly, could have saved their lives.”
According to witness testimony at the criminal and civil trials, Erickson and Grossman had been drinking at a Westlake Village cantina and were heading to Grossman’s home on the night of the crash. Mark and Jacob Iskander were with their mother and younger sibling in a crosswalk at Triunfo Canyon Road when witnesses say the two cars came speeding toward them.
Erickson testified he avoided hitting the brothers, but Grossman did not.
Brian Panish, the Iskander family’s attorney, told jurors in Van Nuys that they needed to award punitive damages to not only punish Grossman and Erickson, but also send a message about their conduct. He questioned whether Erickson, a former World Series winner who also pitched for the Los Angeles Dodgers, and Grossman are hiding assets.
Erickson testified that he hasn’t had a job since 2019. While he earned more than $46 million in contracts across his professional career, bad business decisions, a divorce and taxes have left him with $9,000 in the bank, a $13,000 monthly MLB pension, $242,000 in a retirement account, and $200,000 in equity in a Las Vegas condo.
“I haven’t been able to get a job since the accident,” he said.
Panish, however, accused him of not disclosing information — including about a $237,000 withdrawal and an investment in an unidentified “billion-dollar” company.
“The punishment should fit the offense. You’d agree with that, right?” Panish asked Erickson.
“Yes,” Erickson replied.
Asked what could be more morally reprehensible than drinking with Grossman and then getting behind the wheel, Erickson replied: “I guess personally striking the children would be worse.”
Panish has argued that the evidence shows Grossman and Erickson were street racing at the time of the crash, a claim their attorneys deny.
Esther Holm, Grossman’s attorney, said the “evidence will show that she had not earned income for many years, since this accident and prior to this accident.” Holm said the question of whether to award punitive damages shouldn’t hinge on the family wealth shared by Grossman, who is the co-founder of the Grossman Burn Foundation and the wife of prominent plastic surgeon Dr. Peter Grossman.
Panish alleged that Grossman and her husband, who were separated at the time of the crash, have tried to conceal the total amount of their assets. He spent a couple of hours Friday questioning Peter Grossman about a web of trusts, companies and his wife’s cryptocurrency holdings.
In a series of questions, Panish tried to show jurors that the Grossmans had a series of complex trusts, loans and other financial measures designed to shield money from the court.
Panish played for jurors a video of Peter Grossman’s deposition in which he stated he didn’t know how much money his wife made in 2021. He also played recordings of prison calls between Rebecca Grossman and her husband in which they discussed a Coinbase wallet containing her bitcoin, as well as loans worth millions of dollars.
He also played a part of the deposition that detailed a trust to benefit the couple’s children, and the transfer of a Georgia property worth about $1 million.
Asked by Panish whether his wife killed the brothers, Peter Grossman replied, “My wife was involved in the accident … I don’t particularly care for the word ‘kills.’”
Panish also accused the surgeon of not turning over details of a $25-million contract with a Dallas hospital to the plaintiffs, which Peter Grossman denied.
Grossman also denied that he had financed a documentary about the case, though he acknowledged some sort of project was in the works. He said he had shown his wife “some rough footage” and that Marla Maples, former wife of President Trump, “has been involved.”
The punitive phase of the civil trial began Thursday, after jurors determined that Grossman had acted with malice and oppression and Erickson with malice, oppression or fraud.
Rebecca Grossman, Dr. Peter Grossman and their daughter arrive at the Van Nuys Courthouse in 2024.
(Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
The Iskander family sued Grossman and Erickson as part of a wrongful death lawsuit, claiming the pair were negligent in the September 2020 crash.
Attorneys for Grossman and Erickson argued that, although the incident was tragic, there was no evidence that their clients were racing or impaired that would justify an award of hundreds of millions of dollars.
Panish, however, said, “It’s not an accident when you speed, and you drink, and you drive impaired.”
Karim Iskander, right, and wife Nancy Iskander in Van Nuys.
(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)
On Wednesday, jurors determined that Nancy and Karim Iskander should receive a combined $59 million for past and future wrongful death damages for the loss of Mark.
In Jacob’s death, they assigned another $48 million in past and future damages for the loss of love, companionship, comfort and care, assistance and affection. Jurors awarded Nancy Iskander another $35 million for serious emotional distress and $34 million to Zachary, their surviving son, for emotional suffering.
