Doctor suing Gwyneth Paltrow takes stand in Utah ski crash trial
The retired optometrist who claims Gwyneth Paltrow left him permanently disabled after a reckless crash on the Utah ski slopes told the jury Monday that the actress was skiing “out of control” before hitting him.
Plaintiff Terry Sanderson, 76, said that “everything was going great” at Deer Valley Resort in Park City, Utah on Feb. 26, 2016, “and then I heard something I’ve never heard at a ski resort. And that was a blood-curdling scream.”
“There was nothing in front of me,” he said on the stand. “I just remember everything was great, and then I heard something I’ve never heard at a ski resort.”
Sanderson said, “It was like somebody was out of control and hit a tree and was going to die, and that’s what I had until I was hit.”
“That’s what is going on in your mind when you hear that scream?” his lawyer said.
“They’re really seriously out of control,” Sanderson responded.
The former doctor said he was hit in the back and felt the two fists along with ski poles between his shoulder blades.
“All I saw was a whole lot of snow and I didn’t see the sky,” he said. “I was flying in that sense, and I had no control.”
He claims Paltrow, 50, negligently skied into him and then ran off. He is seeking $300,00 from her in damages, although originally asked for $3.1 million.
The Academy Award-winning actress rejects the plaintiff’s narrative and told the court Friday “I was hit by Mr. Sanderson and he was at fault.”
Paltrow is seeking $1 in damages and the cost of her likely exorbitant legal fees.
The “Goop” founder said that while she sympathizes with Sanderson’s plight, she is not to blame for his health issues. Her team has argued the retiree’s mental decline can be attributed to the dozen-plus pre-existing conditions he suffered from before the crash, including cancer and partial blindness in one eye.
Sanderson, who cried while testifying about the dissolution of a romantic relationship following the crash, insisted he wasn’t seeking his fifteen minutes of fame.
He told that court he wasn’t moved upon learning that the person he collided with was world famous.
“To me, it’s like I’m not into celebrity worship, so I didn’t care at that point,” he said under oath.
Paltrow’s lawyers pushed back on this idea during cross-examination, citing his deposition three years ago when he responded “yes” when asked if he thought it was “cool” Paltrow was the other party in the accident.
When also asked why he sent his daughters an email just hours after the crash with the subject line, “I’m famous,” he said he was trying to inject some “levity” into a very serious situation.
After Sanderson said the subject line and reaction in the deposition were uncharacteristic and “not me”, Paltrow’s lawyer Stephen Owens grilled him.
“But it was you, just to be clear. When you say it wasn’t me, it was in fact you,” the attorney said.
“It’s the other personality that’s inhabiting my body right now,” Sanderson responded.
“And you blame Gwyneth Paltrow for that?” Owens asked.
“Yes, no question,” the plaintiff responded.
The two also butted heads about Sanderson’s height, as the doctor struggled to explain why he described himself as 5 ft. 8 inches in a deposition three years ago but his lawyers have told the jury he is only 5 ft. 5 inches.
Earlier in his testimony, Sanderson told the court he remembers waking up after being knocked out from the crash and there was a man yelling at him, saying “you hurt somebody.” The man was “just insistent that I was the bad guy,” Sanderson said.
The retired doctor also told the jury he apologized at the scene because he wanted to “placate this man in the only defensive manner I could.” He also said he doesn’t remember Paltrow yelling at him, which she told the court under oath she did because she was angry Sanderson hit her.
While Paltrow has sat through the entire proceedings, Sanderson has not and only appeared in court for the first time Friday to watch Paltrow’s testimony.
His daughters, Shae Sanderson Herath, 52, and Polly Sanderson Grasham, 49, both gave teary testimony last week about the effects the crash had on their dad.
Herath said her daughter is now fearful of her grandfather, who is more prone to outbursts since the 2016 incident.
“She doesn’t like my dad. She doesn’t like him,” she told the Utah District Court’s eight jurors and two alternates.
Sanderson Grasham echoed that sentiment, saying her dad became “angry” from the alleged effects of the crash.
