- In March, Gwyneth Paltrow won a high-profile lawsuit against 76-year-old Terry Sanderson, who claimed she hit him in a skiing accident in 2016, seriously injuring him
- The upcoming documentary Gwyneth vs Terry: The Ski Crash Trial gives a look at the trial and claims that Paltrow used vicious legal tactics to win
- The documentary, streaming in the US on Max and in the UK on Discovery+, features interviews with Sanderson's former partner and a member of the jury
Gwyneth Paltrow has been called out for her brutal legal tactics in a new documentary about her ski collision trial that took place last March.
The upcoming documentary claims that the Goop founder's lawyers were “unkind and unfair” in the case of 76-year-old Terry Sanderson, who claimed she hit him from behind at Utah's Deer Valley ski resort in 2016, causing him four broken ribs and a permanent brain injury.
Sanderson's former partner Karlene Davidson says in “Gwyneth vs Terry: The Ski Crash Trial” that it “broke my heart” that Paltrow's lawyers “set his daughters against each other.”
She says Paltrow only won the high-profile case because the jury in Park City, Utah, home of the Sundance Film Festival, was “biased” by her celebrity.
After eight days of testimony, the jury concluded after just two hours that Sanderson was “100 percent” responsible for the crash and awarded Paltrow the symbolic $1 in damages she sought.
An upcoming documentary, “Gwyneth vs Terry: The Ski Crash Trial,” takes a look at the ski crash trial and claims that Gwyneth Paltrow used vicious legal tactics to win. Sanderson was found “100 percent” responsible for the crash and Paltrow was awarded $1 in damages. Terry Sanderson claimed he was left with four broken ribs and a permanent brain injury. Paltrow denied colliding with the pensioner but countersued, claiming he was the one who drove into her – leaving her angry and sore. The accident occurred in 2016 at the Deer Valley Resort in Park City, Utah. Sanderson sought over $3.1 million in damages following the accident, but a judge dismissed his original hit-and-run lawsuit and it is now a $300,000 lawsuit against Paltrow
The film also stars Samantha Jurie, one of the jurors who ruled in Paltrow's favor. She said that Sanderson “lost credibility” when Paltrow's lawyers showed a montage of photos of him vacationing after the accident that he said ruined his life.
Gwyneth vs Terry, streaming on Monday on Max in the US and Discovery+ in the UK, offers new insight into a battle between David and Goliath that captivated the nation.
Paltrow in a social media post the year before the accident at Deer Valley Resort in Utah. She captioned the post: “20 years later and I still have it #justlikeridingabike”
The Goliath was Paltrow, the 50-year-old founder of luxury wellness brand Goop, who is worth $200 million and won an Oscar for her role in Shakespeare in Love.
Her opponent, Sanderson, was a twice-divorced and retired optician who claimed she let out a “blood-curdling” scream when she hit him while she was distracted by waving at her children, Apple and Moses, who were also on the slopes .
Paltrow strongly denied this and always claimed that Sanderson was the one who backstabbed her.
The documentary revisits the brutal cross-examination of Sanderson by Paltrow's lawyers at a Utah law firm typically hired by health insurers to dispute patients' claims.
Sanderson, a father of three, was asked by Paltrow's lawyer Steve Owens why his youngest daughter Jenny had not spoken to him in 13 years.
He was also asked whether, as Jenny claimed in a deposition, he was controlling and abusive toward her.
A tearful Davidson says in the documentary: “He (Sanderson) was very close to his girls, they loved him.”
“When they pitted his daughters against each other, it really bothered me because I knew all those girls.”
'It broke my heart. That was unfair, that was unkind, not at all an accurate description of what happened to this family.'
Davidson insists that Sanderson's personality change after the crash “had to have been caused by something.”
She says: “It happened overnight so it had to be the accident.”
“He couldn't stay as energized and connected, so he pulled away and pushed me away, almost saving me from having to deal with whatever was going on with him.”
She wiped away tears and admitted she still had feelings for Sanderson.
Davidson said: “I didn't want this relationship to end and to see that it didn't have to happen afterwards.”
“I think that was the harder part, realizing that something might have happened there. “I could have stayed with the man I adore.
Gwyneth Paltrow took the stand in court in Utah. She went viral after saying that the worst thing she suffered from the accident was the loss of half a day of skiing, a moment that instantly became a meme. During the trial, Paltrow's fashion choices were criticized almost as much as her testimony, with her style being praised by fashion critics Terry Sanderson, 76, said he lived a “different life” after colliding with Paltrow on a ski slope in Utah, which he believes after leading to broken ribs and severe brain injuries. Terry Sanderson's daughter Polly Grasham, 49, said her father had changed He is dramatically affected after the crash and is no longer the “gregarious” man he once was: Terry's daughter Shae
Samantha Jurie, the juror, says in the documentary that she found Paltrow's evidence compelling, particularly when the actress described briefly thinking she had been sexually assaulted when Sanderson hit her from behind.
Jurie said: “When something like that happens, when you feel like you're being sexually abused, it's a different kind of memory that always traumatizes you.”
“Gwyneth Paltrow did not appear to make light of Terry's injury or anything caused by the accident, but was clearly aware that this accident was not her fault.”
Jurie was not convinced by Craig Ramon, Sanderson's friend, who was the only one who saw the moment of collision.
She said he “became very nervous” during cross-examination and his answers kept changing.
“It was really difficult for the jury to understand the truth of Craig Ramon's testimony,” Jurie said.
In contrast, Jurie found that Eric Christiansen, who was a ski instructor with Paltrow's son Moses at the time of the crash, was “consistent” in his account and blamed Sanderson.
One of Jurie's key witnesses was Irving Scher, Paltrow's biomechanics expert, who created computer simulations that took all eyewitnesses into account.
The simulations showed that the only possibility was for Sanderson to drive uphill from Paltrow and collide with her.
Jurie said: “One of the most important rules in the skier's code is that when skiing uphill, you must move out of the path of a skier going downhill to avoid a collision.”
During the trial, Paltrow's fashion choices were criticized almost as much as her testimony, with her earthy tones being praised by fashion critics.
She went viral after sharing that the worst thing she suffered from the accident was the loss of half a day of skiing – a moment that instantly became a meme.
During her cross-examination, Paltrow was asked if she ever gave Taylor Swift “intimate gifts,” apparently referring to a vibrator she put in her Christmas stocking in an online video.
According to juror Samantha Jurie, what really convinced her were the photos Sanderson posted on Facebook showing him taking dozens of vacations after the crash – including skiing
Sanderson had originally asked for $3.1 million, but that was reduced to $300,000 when a judge dismissed the claim that Paltrow negligently caused emotional distress with punitive damages.
That led to him being accused of “simple negligence,” the same allegation that Paltrow sued him for a token dollar plus legal fees.
According to Jurie, what really excited her were the photos Sanderson posted on Facebook showing him taking dozens of vacations after the crash – including skiing.
She said: “The picture that was painted was that this man who couldn't travel, was unable to function, unable to have friends, yet was able to travel the world.” It didn't add up
“In the end it was almost black and white, there was no way the collision could have happened the way it did.”
Davidson hit out hard, saying Paltrow's fame helped her.
She says in the film, “I think the jury's opinion had to be one-sided.” Park City didn't want to lose its celebrity status with the incoming stars and what they had to offer in Deer Valley.
Alina Fong, a neuropsychologist who treated Sanderson and testified on his behalf, said it was “very disheartening” that her recommendation that he travel to aid his recovery was “turned around and used as part of an attack against him.” .