The civil case to find out who was at fault in a 2016 ski collision between Gwyneth Paltrow and Terry Sanderson got here to a conclusion on Thursday afternoon, because the jury dominated in Paltrow’s favor, successful the high-profile civil court docket case.
Paltrow snuck exterior the court docket instantly after the ruling, making no assertion after the clerk learn the decision. “Was Gwyneth Paltrow at fault? No. Was Terry Sanderson at fault? Sure. Did Terry Sanderson’s fault trigger Gwyneth Paltrow’s hurt? Sure.”
Sanderson sued Paltrow in 2019, claiming that the actress and Goop founder had struck him from behind whereas snowboarding “uncontrolled” at Deer Valley Resort in Park Metropolis, Utah, earlier than ski-fleeing the scene, leaving the retired optometrist with 4 damaged ribs and a traumatic mind harm.
Sanderson initially sued Paltrow for $3.1 million earlier than amending his ask to $300,000 in damages. Paltrow countersued Sanderson for a symbolic $1, plus authorized charges, and denied his account, saying that Sanderson slammed into her on the slopes and that his solely goal in suing her was to take advantage of her movie star and wealth.
Of their ruling, the jury deemed 100% of the fault to Sanderson, handing Paltrow the sum of $1 in compensation.
“He hit her, he damage her, and he desires $3 million for it,” Paltrow’s legal professional Stephen Owens mentioned as a part of his closing argument on Thursday. “It’s truly fallacious that he damage her and he desires cash from her, and that’s why we’re right here.”
All through the two-week-long, extremely publicized trial—which at one level caught the eye of surprising commentator O.J. Simpson—Owens ceaselessly protested press intrusions corresponding to a “new digicam” following the courtroom motion.
A lot of the trial was dedicated to analyzing the standing of Sanderson’s bodily and psychological well being earlier than and after the accident. The plaintiff supplied emotional testimony earlier this week, tearing up whereas he spoke about an ex-girlfriend he mentioned he’d damaged up with after the crash as a result of he wasn’t certain if he’d recuperate from his accidents.
“I can’t ski anymore,” Sanderson mentioned in court docket. “I used to be advised if I did and I had one other crash, I might wind up full time in a nursing dwelling.”
Sanderson testified that emailing his daughters “I’m well-known” after the accident with Paltrow was “a loopy factor to say.” (Nonetheless, he did do it.)
Sanderson additionally bizarrely in contrast Paltrow to intercourse trafficker Jeffrey Epstein whereas testifying on Wednesday.
“That is clearly a problem that somebody must be accountable for, and in the event that they’re by no means accountable, what are they gonna do? They’re gonna do it once more,” Sanderson mentioned on the stand. “Now we have now the…molesting of younger kids on an island.”
Paltrow, appalled, glanced at her lawyer, who appealed to the decide. The decide then advised the jury to ignore Sanderson’s remark.
In distinction to the sometimes-erratic Sanderson, Paltrow, who at all times maintained that it was he who skied into her and never the opposite approach round, was as persistently composed as her designer outfits.
She testified that when the collision with Sanderson occurred, she briefly puzzled if she was being sexually assaulted.
“I used to be snowboarding, and two skis got here between my skis, forcing my legs aside, after which there was a physique urgent in opposition to me, and there was a really unusual grunting noise,” Paltrow mentioned in court docket final Friday. “So my mind was attempting to make sense of what was occurring. I believed, ‘Is that this a sensible joke? Is somebody doing one thing perverted? That is actually, actually unusual.’ My thoughts was going very, in a short time, and I used to be attempting to establish what was occurring.”
She recalled: “I mentioned, ‘You skied straight into my effing again,’ and he mentioned, ‘Oh sorry, sorry, I’m sorry.’”