The closely watched trial over a 2016 ski collision between Gwyneth Paltrow and the retired optometrist suing her for the injuries he sustained is expected to draw to a close on Thursday when attorneys give closing arguments and send the case to the eight-member jury.
Terry Sanderson, 76, is suing Gwyneth Paltrow, claiming she skied out of control and crashed into him, leaving him with four broken ribs and a concussion with symptoms that have lasted years beyond the collision.
After a judge dismissed his initial $3.1 million complaint, Terry Sanderson amended and refiled the lawsuit seeking “more than $300,000” — a threshold that provides the opportunity to introduce the most evidence and depose the most witnesses allowed in civil court. In response, Gwyneth Paltrow countersued for a symbolic $1 and attorney fees.
Gwyneth Paltrow’s defense team used most of their final full day in control of the witness stand to call medical experts to testify.
Terry Sanderson’s attorneys are expected to begin on Thursday morning by recalling their medical experts to rebut claims made by Gwyneth Paltrow. Each side will then have roughly one hour to give the jury their closing arguments.
Gwyneth Paltrow’s attorneys are expected to continue their two-pronged approach, both arguing that the actor-turned-lifestyle influencer didn’t cause the accident and that its effects aren’t as bad as Terry Sanderson claims. They’ve painted him as an “obsessed” man pushing claims against someone whose fame makes them vulnerable to unfair, frivolous lawsuits.
Terry Sanderson’s team will likely cite how the man claiming to be the sole eyewitness testified to seeing Gwyneth Paltrow hit their client and continue spinning the case as a contemporary David versus Goliath tale in which Terry Sanderson suffered injuries and had the courage to take on a movie star.
Terry Sanderson testified last week Friday that he had continued to pursue damages seven years after the accident because the cascading events that followed — his post-concussion symptoms and the accusation that he sued to exploit Paltrow’s celebrity — added insult to injury.
He said on Wednesday in response to a question from his attorney about Paltrow’s team probing his personal life, medical records, and extensive post-crash international travel itinerary:
“That’s the purpose: to make me regret this lawsuit. It’s the pain of trying to sue a celebrity”.
Terry Sanderson
Witnesses on call for trial
Though both sides have marshaled significant resources to emerge victorious, the verdict could end up being remembered as an afterthought dwarfed by the worldwide attention the trial has attracted. The amount of money at stake for both sides pales in comparison to the typical legal costs of a multi-year lawsuit, private security detail, and expert witness-heavy trial.
With lengthy rosters of witnesses on call, attorneys have confronted difficult choices about how to juggle their hired experts with family members, doctors, and testimony from Sanderson and Paltrow themselves.
Gwyneth Paltrow’s defense team picked mostly experts to mount their final defense on Wednesday. They chose to call four medical experts to testify rather than Paltrow’s husband, television producer Brad Falchuk.
In the final hour of their last full day to call witnesses, they called Sanderson back to the witness stand. A day earlier, they read depositions from Paltrow’s two children — Apple and Moses — rather than calling them to testify as they earlier indicated they had planned.
Among the most bombshell testimony has been from Paltrow and Sanderson. On Friday, members of the jury were riveted when Paltrow said on the stand that she initially thought she was being “violated” when the collision began. Three days later Sanderson gave an entirely different account, saying she ran into him and sent him “absolutely flying”.
The trial has also shone a spotlight on Park City, known primarily as a ski resort that welcomes celebrities like Paltrow for each year’s Sundance Film Festival.
Local residents have increasingly filled the courtroom gallery throughout the trial. They’ve nodded along as lawyers and witnesses have referenced local landmarks like Montage Deer Valley, the ski-side hotel-spa where Paltrow got a massage after the collision. At times they have appeared captivated by Paltrow’s reactions to the proceedings, while at others they have mirrored the jury, whose endurance has been tested by hours of jargon-dense medical testimony.
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