Gwyneth Paltrow, her husband Brad Falchuk and children Apple, 18, and Moses, 16, are scheduled to testify during their trial over a 2016 skiing accident, their attorney told the court on Tuesday.
During his opening remarks, Stephen Owens said all three would take the witness stand and said Paltrow was “freaked out” by the accident that allegedly left optometrist Terry Sanderson, 72, with a permanent brain injury.
Sanderson has said Paltrow crashed into him, but Owens described how Sanderson’s skis appeared between their feet before the pair fell to the ground.
Commenting on Sanderson’s claim that Paltrow collided with him and left him badly injured, Owens added: “We think that’s BS.”
He claimed that after Sanderson realized who he had met, he stopped the Ski Patrol and told them he was so badly injured that he needed help getting down the mountain.
On the opening day of the trial, Gwyneth Paltrow wore a cream turtleneck and light-colored wide-leg pants
Paltrow, her husband Brad Falchuk, and children Apple, 18, and Moses, 16, are scheduled to testify during their 2016 skiing accident trial
The actress was seen getting out of a black SUV and dressed in a long coat and sunglasses with her head down as she entered Park City Circuit Courthouse on Tuesday
dr Terry Sanderson, who came to court wearing a face mask today, is seeking over $3.1 million in damages after the accident left him with “permanent traumatic brain injury, four fractured ribs, pain, suffering and loss of life.” joie de vivre, emotional distress and disfigurement’
Owens also told the jury that Sanderson suffered from brain problems before the accident and said Paltrow had “sentimental feelings” about skiing due to skiing trips with her father as a child and before his death.
He showed the court a photo of Paltrow with son Moses on the day of the crash and said it was a special trip to give their children the opportunity to learn to ski.
Terry Sanderson (pictured) filed a lawsuit in Utah in January 2019, alleging Gwyneth Paltrow fractured four ribs, leaving him with brain damage after a skiing accident
Owens claimed that Sanderson went over the mountain in a wide turn and turned his back on him when he hit her.
He also noted that Sanderson had said Paltrow appeared right in front of him just before the crash and told Paltrow’s ski instructor that he was fine.
According to Owens, Paltrow was on the ground and yelled “What the F” at Sanderson immediately after the crash, which was seen and heard by Moses – who later said he had never seen his mother so upset. Owens also poked fun at the idea that the crash was a “hit and run” – saying Paltrow instead skied down the mountain to meet Falchuk after her ski instructor Eric Christensen and Ski Patrol said she was free to go.
While Sanderson was being sled down the mountain, he posted a happy photo on social media and was able to chat with his skiing buddy Greg Ramone, according to Owens.
He also claimed Sanderson showed no confusion when brought to Instacare and said he had suffered a stroke six years earlier, which was responsible for injuries that showed up on a CT scan after the accident.
Owens then showed the jury an email Sanderson had sent to his daughters Jenny, Polly and Shae that included a link to a Facebook status that read, “I’m famous!”.
It also referred to a GoPro that allegedly caught the crash on camera, but which Owens said was never found.
He ended his argument by holding up a dollar bill and saying, “Gwyneth was hurt by his [Sanderson] Negligence. She’s hurt, she’s sore, it shook her.’
Owens added, “Apple was waiting at the bottom of the mountain and said, ‘What happened? She said ‘some asshole walked into me’ She was upset. She was upset with lunch and said she didn’t want to ski anymore that day.
“She came for a family vacation and half the afternoon was ruined. So this dollar is important to us. That’s important to my client.”
met with Sanderson during a short break on Tuesday. When asked if he was confident about the study’s outcome, Sanderson told he was.
On the opening day of the trial, the actress wore a cream turtleneck and light-colored wide-leg trousers and made her way into court without speaking to the media.
While Paltrow waited for the jury to file their cases, Paltrow, who has insisted it was Sanderson who drove into her and that he was the uphill skier in the fall, sat quietly in front of Judge Kent’s seat Holmberg and briefly consulted with her legal team.
Paltrow, who also wore large 1970s-style reading glasses, bent intently over her notes while Judge Holmberg read a long list of jury instructions.
Lawrence Buhler, Terry Sanderson’s lead attorney, opened the trial by telling the jury, “Distracted skiers cause accidents. Defendant Gwyneth Paltrow knew that looking up the mountain and to the side was dangerous.
“She knew that if she kept skiing like this, if she kept looking to the side, someone was going to get seriously hurt. She knew what she was doing was dangerous and she knew it was reckless.’
He added that his client suffered four broken ribs and permanent brain damage after the impact, before outlining the rules of skiing, including those participating in the sport always giving way to those below and the look should face forward.
Paltrow was on trial in Utah for a hit-and-run skiing accident in 2016
Paltrow in a social media post the year before the accident at Utah’s Deer Valley Resort. She captioned the post: “20 years later and I still get it #justlikeridingabike”
During the opening statement, Bühler told jurors that Paltrow was skiing with nine people on the day of the crash, including her husband Brad Falchuk and their children.
With the group on Bandana Mountain were four ski instructors – including Paltrow’s co-defendant Eric Christiansen.
Meanwhile, Sanderson was there with a meeting group that included a man named Greg Ramone, who Bühler says is the only witness to the crash.
He added, “Top of Bandana — one of Ms. Paltrow’s kids says, ‘Mom, Mom, watch me ski!'” They go left. Gwyneth Paltrow goes right.
“She looks up to see her children and when she looks down she screams. She drives into Terry Sanderson’s back.
“Sanderson is lying face down in the snow, unconscious.”
According to Bühler, Ramone saw the fall and its aftermath – with Christiansen driving to the lying Sanderson and repeatedly yelling, “What did you do?”
He said Ramone asked Paltrow if she was okay but was ignored, and the actress then “slid a few feet away.”
Buehler said Sanderson then moaned and complained of pain in his ribs – after which a silent Paltrow flew down the mountain.
Sanderson was reportedly so disoriented from the crash that he didn’t know where he was when asked by Ramone and had to be carried off the mountain by Ski Patrol.
He was later taken to an Instacare center in Park City and rushed to the emergency room the next day.
In response to Buhler, Paltrow’s attorney, Stephen Owens, began his argument by showing the jurors a picture of Lady Justice and reminding them that they shouldn’t award anything to anyone because they felt sorry for them.
As he spoke, Paltrow watched intently and nodded as he told the jury that skiing accidents were not the same as car accidents; adding that skiing is dangerous “because you’re going down a very snowy and icy hill”.
The trial of the Deer Valley Resort incident begins today in Park City District Court
Sanderson is seeking over $3.1 million in damages after the accident left him with “permanent traumatic brain injury, four fractured ribs, pain, suffering, loss of zest for life, emotional distress and disfigurement.”
A judge dismissed Sanderson’s original hit-and-run claim, and the Utah Resort and Paltrow’s instructor were removed from the lawsuit, and it is now a $300,000 claim solely against the actress.
Paltrow is suing for “token damages” in the amount of $1 plus her attorneys’ fees.
She accused Sanderson of attempting to “exploit her fame and wealth” with the accident, in which she suffered a full-body blow when it collided with her.
Paltrow told Sanderson she was angry with him and he apologized to her, but she was “devastated and upset” by the incident and stopped skiing that day, the lawsuit states.
“I heard this hysterical scream and I was immediately hit in the back,” Sanderson said at a news conference when he originally filed the lawsuit in 2019.
“It was just instantaneous, I was hit in the back. It felt like it just propelled me forward.
In his original lawsuit, he accused her of getting up and driving away without checking on him or offering help after the accident
Sanderson claimed that their instructor, identified as Eric Christiansen, soon came by and informed the injured man that the incident was his fault, and then drove off too.
He says in the complaint that neither Paltrow nor the instructor alerted the ski patrol after they left him, and he was left stranded and alone on the mountainside with brain damage and four broken ribs.
“This case concerns a hit-and-run skiing accident in Deer Valley, Utah, in which the defendant, Gwyneth Paltrow, went out of control and hit the back of Terry Sanderson, another skier, who was downhill, hitting him hard and knocking him out. and caused a brain injury, four broken ribs and other serious injuries,” the legal filing said.
“Paltrow got up, turned and drove away. Sanderson lay stunned in the snow, badly injured.”
A ski instructor came by and taunted Sanderson’s claim to the file, even though he hadn’t seen the crash.
“He also failed to send assistance as he was required to and later filed a false report to protect his client, Ms. Paltrow,” the filing reads.
“Neither Ms. Paltrow nor the staff at Deer Valley Lodge have informed the emergency services about the injured Dr. Sanderson informed. They left him at the scene with severe brain injuries inflicted by Ms. Paltrow.”
Paltrow, who was caught at dinner in Park City the day after the accident, is seeking “symbolic damages” of $1 plus her attorneys’ fees in her countersuit filed in February 2019
He sought over $3.1 million in damages after the accident, but a judge dismissed his original hit-and-run claim, and it is now a $300,000 claim against Paltrow
A sign directing skiers to the Bandana Trail where the incident occurred
View from above: Paltrow rode down the Bandana Trail (above) with friends and family
But Paltrow claimed Sanderson said he was fine when Christiansen checked him out, stating the instructor produced a report stating that Sanderson was at fault in the incident.
Her counterclaim insists that the retired doctor’s injuries have been overstated and that a physical exam has revealed no deficits in cognitive function.
Medical records at the time show he was diagnosed with a “mild” concussion, according to the lawsuit, and that he vacationed internationally for “extended periods” after the accident.
And Sanderson has 15 other chronic medical problems and a year earlier he told his doctor he was blind in his right eye and vision was decreasing in his left eye, documents show.
“She did not strike him,” the counterclaim states, “or give him a concussion, brain injury, or broken ribs.”
Paltrow was skiing down the resort’s Bandana beginner’s slope under the guidance of a ski instructor at the time of the incident.
According to Sanderson’s complaint, she allegedly rushed down the mountain to have lunch at Montage Lodge in Deer Valley.
Deer Valley adheres to the National Ski Areas Association’s Code of Responsibility, which states that skiers going downhill have the right-of-way, but that everyone must remain in control and be able to stop and avoid others.