Secret settlement cuts Rebecca Grossman’s share of $199m wrongful death payout

Part of the compensatory damages against both Grossman, 63, and the World Series-winning ballplayer included a $69 million payout to Nancy and Zachary for ’serious emotional distress.’ 

But new court documents obtained by the Daily Mail reveal that ’on the eve of trial’ Grossman made a secret settlement with the Iskanders in which Nancy and Zachary’s share of that $69 million would be reduced to just $14 million. 

The deal would leave Erickson on the hook for the remaining $55 million, however, his attorney Jeff Braun returned to the trial court in Van Nuys, California last Friday and successfully sought to slash his client’s damages by the same amount. 

Despite the generous reduction, both Grossman and Erickson are still jointly liable for the remaining $107 million jurors awarded the Iskanders in compensatory damages for causing the wrongful deaths of their beloved sons.

They are also still responsible for the $20 million and $1.17 million, respectively, the jury awarded in punitive damages.   

Scott Erickson and former lover Rebecca Grossman were ordered to pay a total of $199 million in damages to the Iskander family after a jury awarded $22 million in punitive damages against the two in court last month

Erickson was ordered to pay compensatory damages in the wrongful death lawsuit brought by Nancy and Karim Iskander over the deaths of sons Mark, 11, and Jacob, 8, who were struck and killed while crossing a street in Westlake Village in September 2020

Erickson’s attorney argued that under California law, when a defendant in a civil case makes a settlement, a co-defendant is entitled to an ’offset’ where his liability is reduced by the same settlement amount.

The attorney said that law was in place to ensure that plaintiffs - in this case the Iskanders - ’will not be enriched unjustly by a double recovery.’

And he pleaded that since the jury found that Grossman and Erickson, who had been drinking and racing each other before the deadly crash, had ’acted in concert’ and were ’jointly liable for the same harm.’

In a weekend ruling, trial Judge Huey Cotton granted Erickson’s ’offset’ motion and reduced the damages he owes to the Iskanders by $14 million.

Grossman’s speeding white Mercedes SUV collided with Mark, 11, and eight-year-old Jacob Iskander fatally injuring them, at a pedestrian crossing in Westlake Village, near Los Angeles, in September 2020, after she and Erickson both drank margaritas at a local bar.

Grossman was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison after jurors at her February 2024 criminal trial convicted her of two counts each of second degree murder and vehicular manslaughter, plus one of hit-and-run.

Erickson was only charged with misdemeanor reckless driving and that was dismissed after he made a public service announcement on the importance of safe driving.

But the 6ft 4in ex-athlete confessed on the witness stand during the civil trial that he lied to police about how much alcohol he had to drink before the deadly crash, and admitted that he was convicted of DUI in Nevada 12 years ago.

Grossman and Erickson were photographed attending a fundraising event in 2020 shortly before the accident. Erickson was charged with misdemeanor reckless driving and his criminal case was resolved in February 2022

Karim and Nancy Iskander were seeking nearly half a billion dollars in damages for the loss of their two boys

He also admitted that when police asked him to turn in the vehicle he was driving at the time of the crash, he produced the wrong car for inspection (at the time he owned two black Mercedes SUVs, illegally bearing the same license plate number).

Despite the lack of criminal charges against Erickson, the Iskanders named him as a defendant in their civil action, saying he bore equal responsibility with Grossman for the fatal crash.

Erickson was having a love affair with Rebecca when she was separated from her plastic surgeon husband Dr Peter Grossman, who was also a defendant in the lawsuit as the owner of the Mercedes she was driving at the time of the crash.