Civil trial against Rebecca Grossman, former Dodger Scott Erickson to begin

A civil wrongful death trial was expected to begin on Friday against socialist Rebecca Grossman, who was convicted and sentenced to prison for the 2020 fatal crash of two boys, and former Dodger pitcher Scott Erickson.

The trial was scheduled to begin at 9:15 a.m. in a Van Nuys courtroom on Friday.

Grossman is currently serving 15 years to life in prison for killing Mark and Jacob Iskander, ages 11 and 8, in a 2020 hit-and-run crash.

Following Grossman’s 2024 criminal convictions for the deaths of the two boys, the parents, Nancy and Karim Iskander, is asking jury to examine liability and damages caused by Grossman and Erickson.

After her conviction, Grossman appealed, but a three-judge panel of California’s Second Appellate District upheld her conviction upheld her convictions

Moments before the crash on Sep. 29, 2020, six members of the Isksander family were crossing the three-way intersection — which does not have a stoplight — in a marked crosswalk when the two young boys were struck. The older boy died at the scene, and his 8-year-old sibling died at a hospital.

Prosecutors alleged Grossman was driving at 81 mph in a 45-mph zone seconds before the crash.

Grossman continued driving, eventually stopping about a quarter-mile away from the scene when her car engine stopped running, prosecutors said.

However, Grossman’s attorneys argued during the trial that it was Erickson, not Grossman, who struck the boys first with his black SUV. Erickson was never called to testify in the case.

Socialite Rebecca Grossman has been found guilty on all counts in the hit-and-run crash that killed two young brothers in 2020. Robert Kovacik reports for the NBC4 News on Feb. 23, 2024.