Gwyneth Paltrow to Stand Trial in Ski Crash Lawsuit

By Andrew Roberts

Gwyneth Paltrow will have to stand trial in a civil lawsuit against her in Park City, Utah beginning on Tuesday. According to the Salt Lake Tribune, Paltrow will be forced to address allegations she crashed into a man while she was skiing at the Deer Valley Resort back in 2016.

Terry Sanderson, a 76-year-old retired optometrist, is alleging in his $300,000 lawsuit that Paltrow collided with him and left the scene before help could arrive, leaving him behind to lie in the snow. Sanderson says the accident left him with "permanent traumatic brain injury, 4 broken ribs, pain, suffering, loss of enjoyment of life." 

Sanderson claims he was heading down the slope's "Bandana" run for beginners. He slowed for some large signs, maintaining traffic flow around him downhill, but then described a "hysterical scream" from behind. "It was just instantaneous," Sanderson detailed. "I got hit in my back. ... It felt like it had just drove me forward. And then that's all I remember to that point – just out."

Paltrow responded with a counterclaim from Feb. 20, 2019, seeking a $1 judgment for "symbolic damages" and pledging to give any money recovered to charity. She also lays out her own allegations for the incident and gives her defense point of view.

According to Salt Lake Tribune, Paltrow is claiming that Sanderson is actually the one at fault and hit her, adding that he was uphill skiing at the time. She accuses Sanderson of attempting to "exploit her celebrity and wealth."

Paltrow claims she sustained a full-body "blow" in the collision and was "shaken and upset" by the moment, ending her skiing early that day. The actress also claims she told Sanderson she was angry with him and that he apologized before they parted. Sanderson claims Paltrow and Deer Valley employees skied away from him after the crash, with the actress alleging Sanderson was OK when checked by an instructor.

The involved employee, identified in the case as Eric Christensen, prepared a report that identified Sanderson as the one at fault. Paltrow also refutes Sanderson's claims of injury, saying they were "overstated" and that he had been vacationing internationally "for extended periods of time" after the incident.

"You know, I've skied for over 30 years. I've never knocked anybody down and hurt them. I've never been knocked down or gotten hurt," Sanderson said at his 2019 press conference. "They're trying to twist the story around. It's like, I have some pride in the truth, and so I guess maybe that's why I want to push forward."

We'll see how it plays out beginning on Tuesday. The civil trial is set to begin then and will last eight days, confirmed by a spokesperson for the court.

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