On Thursday, a jury found actor Gwyneth Paltrow not at fault in a skiing accident with retired optometrist Terry Sanderson, who suffered shattered ribs and a concussion.
Sanderson filed a lawsuit against Paltrow after the 2016 collision, alleging that her negligent skiing caused her to collide with him at Deer Valley Resort in Park City, Utah.
Sanderson claimed he had a permanent brain injury that affected his everyday existence, but Paltrow countersued for $1, a symbolic sum, plus her legal bills.
After a nine-day trial, the jury concluded Sanderson was at fault for the accident after just over two hours of deliberation. Sanderson claimed more than $300,000 in damages, and his attorney asked the jury on Thursday to award his client $3.2 million.
Paltrow said she pursued the court case and decided not to settle because “acquiescing to a false claim compromised my integrity.” She said she was “pleased” with the jury’s decision and thanked the judge and the jury for their “thoughtfulness” during the case.
Paltrow placed her hand on Sanderson’s shoulder after the decision was read. According to CNN, Sanderson told reporters outside the court that Paltrow told him, “I wish you well.”
His attorney, Kristin VanOrnum, told reporters that she has a “newfound appreciation” for the actor because of the public attention she received throughout the trial and that Paltrow faces monthly.
Paltrow said that Sanderson struck her when she was skiing with her two children and husband, Brad Falchuk. She said she thought she was being attacked when someone approached her and placed his skis between hers. Paltrow said that Sanderson informed her he was “Fine” and could stand up after the crash.
On the other hand, Sanderson testified that he was struck with a force he’d never felt before and that “all I saw was a whole lot of snow.”
Sanderson claimed that he was downhill and Paltrow was uphill and that he heard a “blood-curdling scream” before being hit. He claimed he couldn’t “move a limb” after the collision because “nothing was reacting.”
He told the jury that he speaks “backward and upside down” and has lost the spark he had before the tragedy.
Sanderson also denied pursuing Paltrow because of her celebrity and fortune, and his attorney, Robert Sykes, told jurors that a portion of Sanderson will “always be on that mountain.”
In his final statements, Paltrow’s attorney, Steve Owens, argued that while Sanderson is suitable to file the claim, he is not “entitled to be paid for harming her.”
He also admitted that Paltrow’s fortune would have made it simple for her to send a check and settle the lawsuit, but it would be “wrong.”
Paltrow said during her testimony that she had “some sympathy” for Sanderson because of his brain impairment and that he appears to have had a “really rough life.” But she insisted that she had nothing to do with the accident.
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