A Utah jury found for actor Gwyneth Paltrow in her lawsuit with retired optometrist Terry Sanderson over a crash on a ski slope in 2016.
The verdict, read in court, ascribed 100 percent of the fault for the accident to Sanderson and awarded Paltrow the symbolic $1 she sought.
Paltrow declined to speak after the verdict, but a statement was released on her behalf.
“I felt that acquiescing to a false claim comprised my integrity,” the statement said, according to NBC News. “I am pleased with the outcome, and I appreciate all of the hard work of Judge Holmberg and the jury, and thank them for their thoughtfulness in handling this case.”
Sanderson, 76, claimed that Paltrow crashed into him on a beginner slope at the Deer Valley Resort in 2016, causing him significant injuries. He initially sought more than $3 million in damages, but that had been whittled down to $300,000 by the time the case went to trial, as CrimeOnline previously reported. He claimed that Paltrow out of control on the slopes and slammed into him, leaving him with four broken ribs, a concussion, and symptoms that have continued in the years since the accident.
But Paltrow testified that it was Sanderson who skied into her, from behind, that day, and that she even yelled at him for doing so.
But it was likely Sanderson’s own testimony on Wednesday that sealed his fate in the trial. With the retired optometrist on the stand, Paltrow’s attorney, Stephen Owens, played slide after slide of Sanderson’s world travels after the accident, showing him physically active, not the “recluse” he claimed to have become, The Hollywood Reporter said. With each slide, Owens asked Sanderson to describe where he was and what he was doing.
“He doesn’t tell his [doctors] he’s flying all over the world, that he’s biking, that he’s the poster boy for fitness at age 75!” Owens said. “He’s posting [online] every darned thing. This isn’t like me sending out a private investigator and trying to find pictures. All I have to do is [type] ‘Terry Sanderson’ and my god – the man’s Mr. Activity.”
Paltrow was on the slopes at the time of the accident with her then-boyfriend, Brad Falchuk — now her husband — and their children.
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[Featured image: Gwyneth Paltrow enters the courtroom on March 30, 2023, in Park City, Utah. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer, Pool)]
