Grossman Burn Foundation co-founder Rebecca Grossman - - who was sentenced in 2024 to 15 years to life in prison for running down two young boys crossing a Westlake Village street with their family -- is asking a judge to prevent attorneys for the boys' family from deposing her husband and daughter in the civil suit the family filed against her.
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In an already concluded criminal case, jurors found Grossman guilty of two counts each of second-degree murder and vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence and one count of hit-and-run driving in the Sept. 29, 2020, deaths of Mark and Jacob Iskander, aged 11 and 8.
The Van Nuys Superior Court civil suit plaintiffs are the boys' parents, Karim and Nancy Iskander, and the boys' brother Zachary. Trial of the civil suit is scheduled for Jan. 5, 2026.
On Wednesday, Grossman's attorneys filed court papers with Judge Huey P. Cotton in advance of a Dec. 1 hearing contending that the one deposition taken of Grossman's husband, Dr. Peter Grossman, by the plaintiffs' attorneys was sufficient and that deposing their daughter, Alexis Grossman, would traumatize her.
Peter Grossman is a defendant in the suit on grounds he allegedly granted permissive use to his wife to drive the vehicle used in the accident. He was previously deposed by the Iskander attorneys in June 2021 and the Grossmans' attorneys say the plaintiffs' lawyers' argument that they need to depose him a second time in order to explore his criminal case trial testimony as well as Rebecca Grossman's financial assets is questionable.
"Plaintiffs have had unfettered and court-approved access to Rebecca Grossman's finances (because) Rebecca and Dr. Grossman produced documents through financial discovery (and) ... provided all bank information, including account names and numbers," the Grossman attorneys further state in their court papers.
Alexis Grossman testified during her mother's criminal case trial and that testimony should be sufficient, according to the Grossman lawyers' pleadings.
"Alexis Grossman has already been traumatized enough through the tragic loss of life, the conviction of her mother, the incarceration of her mother (and) the publicity surrounding the accident and criminal trial," according to the Grossman's attorneys' court papers, which further state that Alexis Grossman has been diagnosed with chronic post-traumatic stress disorder.
Also named a defendant in the complaint filed in January 2021 is former Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Scott Erickson, Rebecca Grossman's former boyfriend. The two had cocktails and later the two then raced each other in their vehicles raced along Triunfo Canyon Road until they reached a crosswalk and the children were struck.
Grossman, 62, of Hidden Hills, tried to flee the scene and she likely would have been successful had her vehicle not automatically shut down due to it sensing the massive impact that had just occurred, the Iskander attorneys state in their court papers.
Grossman then lied to law enforcement about her speed and how much she had to drink, and then contended she did not know why her airbag suddenly deployed despite her vehicle sustaining massive front-end damage, the Iskander attorneys further state in their pleadings.
"The evidence to date demonstrates that Rebecca Grossman's conduct was "despicable," the Iskander family's attorneys contend in their court papers. "She was purposefully racing her Mercedes SUV at 81 mph in a 45 mph zone approaching a marked crosswalk with children in it."
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