Gwyneth Paltrow may have "lost half a day of skiing", but she's coming home $1 richer this weekend.
The 50-year-old GOOP founder has been embroiled in a lawsuit over a 2016 skiing incident in Utah that saw her and 76-year-old optometrist Dr. Terry Sanderson crash into each other on the slopes. Sanderson had sued Paltrow for $300,000 after he claimed he was left with four broken ribs and a brain injury after the two collided. His original lawsuit was seeking a claim of $3 million, but this was subsequently dismissed by a judge.
According to the optometrist's filing, "Gwyneth Paltrow skied out of control [...] knocking [Sanderson] down hard, knocking him out, and causing a brain injury, four broken ribs and other serious injuries. Paltrow got up, turned, and skied away, leaving Sanderson stunned, lying in the snow, seriously injured."
As a result of the incident, Sanderson and his legal team claimed that he was left with brain damage, causing him to experience regular concussions and changes to his mood and personality. Paltrow countersued Sanderson for a symbolic $1 (and the cost of legal fees), stating that the collision was the optometrist's fault, not hers.
There were many standout moments during the lawsuit, including the comment made by Paltrow about how she'd lost "half a day of skiing" as a result of the accident. When the Shakespeare in Love actress took the stand to testify in the civil case last week, Sanderson's attorney Kristin VanOrman asked her about the "losses" she had suffered from the ski collision.
When questioned about her comments that Sanderson had "deterred [Paltrow] from enjoying the rest of what was a very expensive vacation", Paltrow dryly responded with: "Well... we lost half a day of skiing."
Both of Paltrow's children - Apple, 18, and Moses, 16, whom she shares with Coldplay frontman Chris Martin - had their depositions read in court. In Moses' deposition (via Sky News) he wrote that he "saw" his mum on the ground and "a person behind her who had crashed". He added: "When I skied over I heard my mum yelling at the guy. She was saying something along the lines of 'what the f-word you just ran into me.'"
Apple, on the other hand, explained in her deposition that Paltrow had been incredibly shaken by the incident afterwards. "I noticed [my mother] looked a bit shocked, and I asked what happened and she said 'this a-hole ran into me, he ran right into my back'. She was in a state of shock and she decided after that she was not going to ski for the rest of the day which she never does, she always stays on, but she was in shock and a bit of pain," Apple's deposition read, per Sky News.
According to TMZ, the eight-person jury took just two and a half hours to deliberate, finding that Sanderson had crashed into Paltrow. This means that she was awarded the symbolic $1 that she asked for and that Sanderson will foot the cost of her attorney's fees.
