Jury sides with Gwyneth Paltrow in Utah ski crash trial, awards her US$1

A jury in Utah ruled on Thursday (March 30) that Oscar-winning actor Gwyneth Paltrow was not responsible for injuries sustained by a man during a ski slope collision at an upscale Park City resort in 2016.

Terry Sanderson, a retired optometrist, suffered a concussion and four broken ribs in the incident. He said the injuries led to a traumatic brain injury and had sought more than US$300,000 (S$400,000) in damages from Paltrow at a civil trial.

Sanderson, 76, said a woman he later learned was Paltrow was skiing out of control when she ran into his back and sent him flying on a hill at Deer Valley Resort. A friend of Sanderson's testified that he saw Paltrow crash into the former doctor.

Paltrow said she did not cause the accident and that it was Sanderson who struck her from behind.

The eight-person jury sided with Paltrow, ruling that Sanderson was 100 per cent at fault, and awarded Paltrow the $1 in symbolic damages that she had asked for in a countersuit.

The Shakespeare in Love actor, also known for her Goop lifestyle brand, smiled as the verdict was read. Her attorney said in court that she would not comment on the decision.

During her testimony, Paltrow had told jurors that she was skiing with her two children when "two skis came between my skis, forcing my legs apart, and then there was a body pressing against me and there was a very strange grunting noise."

Both fell to the ground with Paltrow on top of Sanderson, in a heap of skis and limbs, she said.

"I did not cause the accident, so I cannot be at fault for anything that subsequently happened to him," she said.

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