Iskander Family Lawyer Brian Panish's Entire Opening Statement In Rebecca Grossman's Civil Trial

Trial began today in a wrongful death lawsuit against a 62-year-old California woman who is serving 15 years to life in prison for killing two boys while drunkenly racing her SUV with her boyfriend in 2020. The victims were brothers Mark Iskander, 11, and Jacob Iskander, 8. The boys' parents are suing Rebecca Grossman; her husband, Peter Grossman; and her ex-boyfriend, Scott Erikson, for wrongful death. Their lawyer Brian Panish gave his opening statement this morning (Friday, April 24) in Judge Huey P. Cotton's courtroom at the Los Angeles County Superior Court courthouse in Van Nuys, a neighborhood of LA. "Eayila. That's an Arabic word that means family. And this you will see, is not a word. It's not a concept. The evidence will show that this was the most important thing to the Iskander family, and that family never was the same since Sept. 29, 2020, and for the rest of their lives, it will never be the same because people made choices, bad choices that have severe and devastating consequences. For Nancy and Karim Iskander, who are sitting right here, their children were their love, their joy, their strength, the reason for living. They had such a great family unit. Their two sons, Mark and Jacob, 11 and eight were best friends. They were inseparable. They were like one another. They grew up together. They lived together. They played together, and unfortunately, they died together." 02:33 "So let's talk a little bit about where they lived in Westlake..." 03:29 "These are the kind of kids that you want to have in your community. They were respectful, kind, loving, smart and funny. There will be no dispute of any of this. In this case, Mark, he was the big brother. He was gifted in math and science. He dreamed of being a neurosurgeon or a comedian..." 07:56 "Now, the defendants, you've heard about them? Rebecca Grossman, Dr. Peter Grossman and Mr. Scott Erickson. Rebecca Grossman we don't believe will come here to testify. We don't believe that she will come and dispute anything that we say." 10:39 Grossman went to a friends' home to drink that afternoon. "They're very good friends with Miss Grossman. So they say, well, she just drank a little at our house. And in fact, after this happened, Mrs. Grossman called them and told them, 'If the police call you don't say that I was at your home drinking.'" 12:23 "they leave the first bar, and they go to this place called Julio's Agave Grill, which is known for serving all kinds of top margaritas and top shelf craft drinks." 15:18 "And they get down there and they decide that they're going to race. So here's the scene of the collision." 27:02 "This is totally preventable. It took many, many bad choices for this to happen, and when people make bad choices, there are consequences, because in this case, Mr. Erikson and Ms. Grossman to this day dispute that they have any responsibility whatsoever in this case, that's what they're going to say.. Mr Erikson will say I didn't hit him. Mrs. Grossman will say — she won't say anything, but her lawyer will come up and she won't admit that. Ms. Grossman is responsible. She will never admit it. That's why we're here, ladies and gentlemen, to find the responsible parties and hold them accountable, because they're not going to accept any responsibility." 38:18 "We're going to prove that they were racing, and when you're racing, you're responsible..." 40:00 deposition clip another depo 50:37 "She was asking for Dr Waldrop. She was telling me to go find Dr Waldrop so that Dr Waldrop can call her husband, that her and Dr Waldrop and her and her husband are family friends. They have dinner every Friday night. She wanted him to help get her out of this. She was angry because they had disabled her vehicle. She'd be home right now. If Mercedes didn't disable her vehicle, she'd be sitting in her garage right now. She made multiple comments that we were wasting our time, and that she shouldn't be in the position that she was in, that she doesn't deserve this." 54:55 Blood-alcohol level was ".08, but that was the level three hours after the collision occurred." "And what you're going to hear in this case, she also had benzodiazepines, which is and some barbiturates in her system, which you will hear from the experts, further enhances the impairment with alcohol." 59:10 Grossman's daughter's depo clip 01:00:03 "The burden of proof. More likely true than not true. ... That's what we have to prove. Was she negligent? Did it cause the death? Same thing with Mr. Erickson. Was he negligent? Did he cause the deaths? Were they acting in concert?" 01:01:30 Peter Grossman depo clip 01:02:30 exact claims 01:07:55 punitive damages: "there's the compensatory to compensate, and then there's punitives, with separate to punish and deter conduct"