Gwyneth Paltrow is primed to appear in court this Tuesday. The 50-year-old actor and founder of the lifestyle brand, Goop, has been in a pending lawsuit for several years after she allegedly struck a man while skiing. The incident occurred back in 2016, while Paltrow was visiting a ski resort in Park City, Utah.
The charges against Gwyneth Paltrow
The case alleges that Paltrow was skiing recklessly at the Deer Valley resort in Park City when she lost control. The Marvel actress allegedly slammed into Terry Sanderson, a retired optometrist, and sent the then 69-year-old sprawling. Sanderson initially asked for $3.1 million in damages, but the payout has been capped at $300,000. The trial is anticipated to last 7 days.
Sanderson is claiming that his quality of life has been greatly affected by the collision. He says the actor slammed into him from behind in a “full body hit” so powerful it took him off his feet. Just before she allegedly struck him, he remembers hearing the sound of “hysterical screaming like … King Kong in the jungle or something” as she barreled toward him. As per his account of the incident, after the collision, he was stunned for several minutes, during which Paltrow left the scene. He recalls his body feeling numb, a soreness in his ribs, while his brain, “felt like it had been injected with Novocain.”
The now 75-year-old claims (via Law & Crime) his injuries have left him maimed, as he has been living with “permanent traumatic brain injury, four broken ribs, pain, suffering, loss of enjoyment in life, emotional distress and disfigurement.”
But Gwyneth Paltrow tells a totally different story
Paltrow’s recollection of the events is very different. The actress claims she was the one who was struck, and that Sanderson painfully knocked into her from behind. According to her, she suffered little injury from the collision and has shared that an employee, a ski instructor, at the resort also chastised Sanderson for his reckless skiing and blamed him for the accident. She recalls being angry with Sanderson but after he apologized, she stayed behind to make sure Sanderson was alright before heading back down the mountain.
Lawyers argue that some of the injuries Sanderson has listed could be already present before the accident, especially proving anything to the contrary is pretty much impossible since he has admitted that he doesn’t have a “perfect memory of what occurred.”
For her part, Paltrow isn’t looking for money. The actor’s countersuit asks for a single dollar in damages and for Sanderson to cover the cost of her legal fees. The ski instructor that witnessed the collision was initially requested at the trial, but a judge removed the instructor and the Deer Valley Company from the suit after ruling that the dispute would be restricted to the collision itself. The original hit-and-run charge has been downgraded to a lesser charge of negligence. Opening statements will be made Tuesday, Mar 21.