WATCH: Jury finds Gwyneth Paltrow not at fault in 2016 ski crash
A jury has sided with Gwyneth Paltrow in the civil trial over a 2016 ski crash involving her and Terry Sanderson, a retired optometrist.
The jury unanimously found Sanderson 100% at fault for the ski crash after just over two and a half hours of deliberation. They awarded Paltrow $1 in damages.
“I felt that agreeing to a false claim compromised my integrity,” Paltrow said in a statement. “I am pleased with the outcome and appreciate all the hard work of Judge Holmberg and the jury, and thank them for their thoughtful handling of this case.”
Paltrow’s attorney, Steve Owens, said in a statement, “We are pleased with this unanimous result and appreciate the judge and jury’s careful handling of the case. Gwyneth has a history of standing up for what she believes – this situation is no different and he will continue to stand up for what is right.”
The civil trial centers on a skiing accident involving Paltrow and Sanderson that occurred on Feb. 26, 2016, at Deer Valley Ski Resort in Utah.
The trial began on March 21 and both sides rested on March 30, sending the case to the jury for deliberation.
to Sanderson original complaintfiled in January 2019, accused Paltrow of “losing control” of Sanderson and “pushing her hard, knocking her down, and causing brain damage, four broken ribs and other serious injuries.”
In an amended complaint, filed the following month, Sanderson changed the amount of damages he sought in the lawsuit from $3.1 million to $300,000.
Paltrow filed a countersuit in February 2019 where she said Sanderson “plowed her back,” delivered a “full ‘body blow'” and left her “shaken and distraught.” In the end, he said he suffered “relatively minor” injuries.
The award-winning actress and Goop CEO called the lawsuit against her an “attempt to exploit her celebrity and wealth” in her countersuit. He sought “symbolic damages” of $1 “plus his costs and attorney’s fees” for defending himself against “this meritless claim.”
Throughout the trial, the jury heard Paltrow’s and Sanderson’s accounts of the accident, with each party accusing the other of causing the ski crash.
In her testimony, Sanderson said she was going down while Paltrow was going up, saying, “There was nothing in front of me.” He recalled hearing a “blood-curdling scream” before he said he “hit me hard in the back.” The next thing he remembered, he said, was “everything [was] black.”
“I tried to move, and I couldn’t move a leg. I couldn’t move my head. I couldn’t move my body,” he said. “No one’s answering.”
As a result of the accident, Sanderson said he now speaks “upside down and backwards.” He also said he doesn’t feel “as engaged” in activities and doesn’t have “the same spark” as he did before, calling himself a “self-imposed recluse.”
In her testimony, Paltrow said she was skiing with her two children, daughter Apple and son Moses, and her husband Brad Falchuk, her then-boyfriend, when ” Mr. Sanderson skied directly behind me.” He said he was “very upset” after the crash.
When asked by Sanderson’s attorney if she feels “some sympathy for Mr. Sanderson’s declining brain,” she said, “I really do. I feel sorry for him. It seems like his life is very difficult.”
“But I didn’t cause the accident,” he said. “So I’m not to blame for anything that happened to him.”
Elsewhere in the trial, the jury heard from various experts, two of Sanderson’s daughters, Sanderson’s ex-girlfriend, a person Sanderson’s attorneys say was the only witness to the crash, a ski expert , Deer Valley employees and more.
Depositions from Paltrow’s two children were also read in court.
