Gwyneth Paltrow skiing accident experience: who is he

Gwyneth Paltrow is on trial for a 2016 skiing accident in Utah involving a retired ophthalmologist who claims he suffered life-changing injuries.

Terry Sanderson, 76, says the Hollywood actress was distracted and caused the accident. He is seeking $300,000 in compensation.

Paltrow, 50, denies the charge and has returned to pay $1 plus attorneys’ fees.

The civil trial turned on the testimonies of its many characters.

Sanderson first sued Paltrow in 2019, three years after they got hitched.

A retired ophthalmologist, who says he has been unharmed in more than 30 years of skiing, is accusing the Oscar winner of being “reckless” and racing at him from behind on a novice slope at the upscale Deer Valley resort in western Utah.

Lawyers for Mr Sanderson, who was 69 at the time, allege Paltrow was distracted by her children and fell on top of him, then left him “lying on the ice” without calling for help.

He claimed that the February 2016 accident left him unconscious, that he suffered a traumatic brain injury and four broken ribs, as well as a “loss of enjoyment of life, emotional distress and disfigurement”.

He initially sought $3.1 million for what he considers a “hit and run,” but that lawsuit was dismissed last May.

He is scheduled to testify on Monday.

Paltrow, a movie star lifestyle influencer, dismisses the plaintiff’s version of events and claims he skated straight onto her back.

She went up to the platform on Friday, and testified that she was descending when she saw a pair of skates appear between her skates, heard “strange grunting” sounds and felt a body pressing against her from behind.

Her first impression was that she had been sexually assaulted, she said, claiming they fell to the ground together, skis tangled, and she was “almost hung”.

She told the court she shouted obscenities at Mr Sanderson and did not ask him if he was okay because she felt “hurt and violated”. The accident left Ms. Paltrow with a sore knee but no other injuries.

Her lawyers argue that Mr Sanderson brought his suit because she is a famous celebrity. They also blame the accident in part on several pre-existing medical conditions Sanderson suffers from, including hearing and vision loss from a stroke.

Two of Mr Sanderson’s daughters – Polly Sanderson Grasham and Shay Herath – testified last week that their father had changed dramatically after the accident.

Mrs Sanderson Grasham said the man who was once “extroverted” and “sociable” was now “restless” and “easily frustrated”.

She tearfully recounted a particular incident in which he was so upset that she “expected drool coming out of his mouth” and knew something was “terribly wrong”.

But she also said her father became “obsessed” with getting an apology from Ms. Paltrow.

On Friday, Paltrow’s attorneys questioned Ms. Herath about emails exchanged with her father. In an email with the subject line “I’m famous… at what cost?” Sanderson said it was “cool” that he bumped into a celebrity.

Ms Herath said Mr Sanderson had become “very insecure” and “no longer trusted his own brain”, adding that his granddaughter no longer wanted to be near him because he was verbally abusive.

“That’s not my dad,” she said. “This is an alternate version of my dad.”

The defense will call Paltrow’s two children — Apple, 18, and Moses, 16 — as well as her husband, Brad Falchuk, to the stand this week.

The court heard that Ms. Paltrow organized the ski trip so her children could “merge” with Mr. Falchuk, the television producer and writer she married in 2018, and that she paid more than $9,000 for private ski lessons at the resort that day. .

Mr. Sanderson’s lawyers alleged that Moses, who was then nine, shouted “Mom, Mom, look at me” and his mother turned her head to the side to look at him before the accident.

The plaintiff’s attorneys called four doctors to appear as expert witnesses supporting their case.

Dr. Alina Fong, a neuropsychologist, said Sanderson had been “suffering with concussion symptoms for a year and a half” when she first saw him in May 2017.

She claimed the symptoms included “mood and personality changes, pain as well as headaches”, and it had “completely changed his life”.

Dr. Sam Goldstein, another neuropsychologist, said the difficulties he noticed in Mr. Sanderson were “the kind of things you understand better if you follow someone around for a couple of weeks.”

Dr. Wendell Gibby, a neuroradiologist who reviewed Mr Sanderson’s medical record, described him as an intelligent man who had clearly lost “the ability to function at a high level”.

He added, “The sudden change in [Mr Sanderson’s] His job, his behavior, and his ability to interact with people were nothing due to his pre-existing conditions.”

The collision was captured by a GoPro camera, but the footage was not found or included as evidence at trial.

Paltrow’s legal team called it the “most important piece of evidence” of the trial, stating that it would prove that she was placed on a slope from which Mr. Sanderson and – according to ski etiquette – had the right of way.

It’s unclear why, if any, the footage disappeared – but there was at least one eyewitness to the incident.

Greg Ramone, 58, a friend of Sanderson’s, told the court on Tuesday that they were skating together when he heard screaming and saw Ms Paltrow ” [Mr Sanderson] directly in the back.”

Ramon testified that the crash sent his friend “face down, eagle-scattering, with Gwyneth on top of him,” but that Mrs. Paltrow slipped up on him and rushed from the scene while he was unresponsive.