SUMMIT COUNTY, Utah, March 30, 2023 (Gephardt Daily) — Seven years after a Park City ski collision between actress Gwyneth Paltrow and Utah skier Terry Sanderson, a jury deliberated for about three hours before finding Paltrow not guilty of charges that she struck and injured Sanderson.
Paltrow is expected to be awarded the $1 and attorney’s fees she asked for in her countersuit, although Sanderson’s attorney suggested shortly before the verdict reading that attorney’s fees may be excessive.
Sanderson had been seeking $300,000 in damages from Paltrow. He claimed that on the “bunny” slope at Deer Valley, Paltrow hit him from behind, and caused a concussion and a brain injury with lingering cognitive effects.
Paltrow said it was Sanderson who struck her from behind.
The statement read on behalf of jurors stated that the collision was 100% Sanderson’s fault.
After the trial, which ended Thursday afternoon after beginning Tuesday of last week, the jury decision supported Paltrow’s account of the accident, which happened on Feb. 26 of 2016.
Questioned outside the courthouse, Sanderson told reporters the trial outcome was obviously not worth the effort put into it, and that he could not compete with the resources available to the actress. He maintained that Paltrow hit him, despite the jury’s verdict.
Sanderson said he had never been hit as hard as he was in the collision, and he continues to suffer some cognitive limitations, for which he has learned to compensate.
Steve Owens, Paltrow’s attorney, said the jury’s decision was correct and just, and he read the following statement outside the courthouse:
“Gwyneth has a history of advocating for what she believes in this situation was no different. And she will continue to stand for what she believes is right.”
