Gwyneth Paltrow not at fault for ski collision, jury decides

Park City, Utah: Gwyneth Paltrow has won her court battle over a 2016 ski collision at a posh Utah ski resort after a jury decided that the movie star wasn’t at fault for the crash.

A jury dismissed the complaint of Terry Sanderson, a retired optometrist, who sued Paltrow over injuries he sustained when the two crashed on a beginner run at Deer Valley ski resort, siding with Paltrow after eight days of live-streamed courtroom testimony that made the case a pop culture fixation.

“I felt that acquiescing to a false claim compromised my integrity,” Paltrow said in a statement released by her representatives. She also thanked the judge and jury for their work.

As Paltrow left court she touched Sanderson’s shoulder and said, “I wish you well,” he told reporters outside the courthouse. He responded, “Thank you, dear”.

Her lawyer, Steve Owens, added in a statement he read outside court that “Gwyneth has a history of advocating for what she believes in – this situation was no different and she will continue to stand up for what is right”.

Paltrow, an actor who in recent years has refashioned herself into a celebrity wellness entrepreneur, looked to her lawyers with a pursed lip smile when the judge read the eight-member jury’s verdict in the Park City courtroom. She sat intently through two weeks of testimony in what became the biggest celebrity court case since actors Johnny Depp and Amber Heard faced off last year.

“I wish you well”: Gwyneth Paltrow touches retired optometrist Terry Sanderson, left, as she walks out of the courtroom.Credit: AP

The legal fees Paltrow demanded in her countersuit were not included in the jury’s verdict, leaving the bulk of the final award for the Park City judge to decide.

The dismissal concludes two weeks of courtroom proceedings that hinged largely on reputation rather than the monetary damages at stake in the case. Paltrow’s lawyers described the complaint against her as “utter BS” and painted the Goop founder-CEO as uniquely vulnerable to unfair, frivolous lawsuits due to her celebrity.

Paltrow took the witness stand during the trial to insist the collision wasn’t her fault, and to describe how she was stunned when she felt “a body pressing against me and a very strange grunting noise”.

Throughout the trial, the word “uphill” became synonymous with “guilty”, as lawyers focused on a largely unknown skiing code of conduct that stipulates that the skier who is downhill or ahead on the slope has the right of way.

Gwyneth Paltrow reacts to the verdict in her trial in Park City, Utah.Credit: AP

Worldwide audiences followed the celebrity trial as if it were episodic television. Viewers scrutinised both Paltrow and Sanderson’s motives while lawyers directed questions to witnesses that often had less to do with the collision and more to do with their client’s reputations.

Addressing reporters after the verdict, Sanderson questioned whether the lawsuit was worth it and said he believed that people tended to naturally trust celebrities like Paltrow.

The trial took place in Park City, a resort town known for hosting the annual Sundance Film Festival, where early in her career Paltrow would appear for the premieres of her movies, including 1998’s Sliding Doors, at a time when she was known primarily as an actor, not a lifestyle influencer. Paltrow is also known for her roles in Shakespeare in Love, for which she won an Oscar in 1999, and the Iron Man movies.

The jury’s decision marks a painful court defeat for Sanderson, who sued Paltrow for more than $300,000 ($447,000) over injuries he sustained when they crashed on a beginner run. Both parties blamed the other for the collision. Sanderson, 76, broke four ribs and sustained a concussion after the two tumbled down the slope, with Paltrow landing on top of him.

He filed that amended complaint after an earlier $US3.1 million lawsuit was dismissed. Paltrow in response counter-sued for $US1 and legal fees, a symbolic action that mirrors Taylor Swift’s response to a radio host’s defamation lawsuit. Swift was awarded $US1 in 2017.

Paltrow’s defence team tried to paint Sanderson as an angry, ageing and unsympathetic man who had over the years become “obsessed” with his lawsuit against Paltrow. They argued that Paltrow wasn’t at fault in the crash and also said, regardless of blame, that Sanderson was overstating the extent of his injuries.

AP

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