Hollywood Oscar-winner, Gwyneth Paltrow, takes her stand in trial over an alleged collision on Utah’s Bandana Mountain in 2016. The alleged victim seeks fines for permanent injuries he might have received during the accident.
Witness Statement
58-year-old Greg Ramone is an eyewitness to the events of 2016 at the Utah Bandana mountain. Ramone claims that he and 72-year-old retired optometrist, Terry Sanderson, were skiing when he saw a skier slam into Terry’s back.
In his statement, he said, “We were skiing down the run, and then I heard this scream. I looked over, and I see this skier just slam into the back of Terry. She slammed him. Very hard. She hit him directly in the back. The tips of his skis go out, and he goes face down, spread-eagle, with Gwyneth on top of him. There was about a second or two.”
Paltrow’s Claim
50-year-old Gwyneth Paltrow and her legal team have denied the claim made by Sanderson, insisting that she was the victim of the crash. During Paltrow’s lawyer, Stephen Owen’s, opening statement, he said the star actress was bruised and upset about the crash, screaming, “What the f**k?” at Sanderson.
Hit And Run
Eyewitness Ramone insists that Paltrow made no comments to Sanderson after the crash, stating that she quickly got up from the incident and “bolted” down the mountain. “I was going to go down and check on her, and then she bolts — just goes straight down.”
“Gwyneth gets up and I was asking her if she was ok. I asked if she was ok and she just looked at me. She was standing up, she got up pretty quick.”
The Dirty Look
Adding to his statement of what he witnessed, Ramone said the “guy” with Paltrow gave him a dirty look. In his words, “There’s a guy and a kid with Gwyneth, and they stop above Terry — about 20 to 25 ft up. Then the adult comes by just giving me a dirty look, and then they both took off after Gwyneth.”
Unresponsive Terry
Recalling the incident and how he rushed to the crash scene, Ramone said, “When I got there, I was asking Terry, are you ok? His face was down in the snow and he wasn’t moving.” He also mentions to the court how Paltrow made zero efforts to check on Sanderson, get help, or exchange contact details before leaving the scene.
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Call For Help
In the rest of his statement, Ramone said when Sanderson eventually became responsive, the alleged victim could not move and perform even the most basic of skiing skills — resulting in him calling the Ski Patrol for help.
Discrepancies In His Statement
Paltrow’s legal team at the time took to questioning Ramone over a few discrepancies between his statements in court and earlier dispositions. Some of the mentioned discrepancies included how far away he was when he witnessed the crash, the length of time Paltrow spent with Sanderson, and what the star was wearing at the scene.
Claims Of Distraction
Sanderson’s lawyer, Lawrence Buhler, began his statement by stating to the court that Paltrow was distracted by one of her children while skiing. Buhler said to the court that one of Paltrow’s kids was yelling, “Mommy, Mommy, watch me ski,” before she ran into Sanderson.
Dangerous And Reckless
Buhler told the court that Paltrow’s actions were “reckless” and her “conscious disregard for people” caused the crash. In his words to the court, he said, “She knew what she was doing was dangerous, and she knew it was reckless. She knew that if she continued to ski that way, if she kept looking up to the side, someone would get seriously hurt.”
Permanent Brain Injury
As a result of the accident in 2016, Sanderson claims to the court that the incident left him with a permanent brain injury he’d have to live with.
Dismissing The Claims
Stephen Owen, Paltrow’s lawyer, dismissed such claims by Sanderson, stating that his brain injury resulted from an earlier accident he had before the skiing event. Owen added, “We think this is BS,” — an abbreviation for bulls**t. Telling the court that once he [Sanderson] realized who Gwyneth Paltrow was, he told the Ski Patrol he was hurt.
His Alleged Skiing Path
Owens told the court that Sanderson had been skiing recklessly on the run. He said Sanderson was cutting across the mountain and making wide turns, which led to him hitting Paltrow when he had his back turned.
Claim He Was Okay
Stephen Owens brought evidence of a happy photo Sanderson posted on social media after the supposed incident to the court. He also claimed that Sanderson showed no signs of confusion to the Ski Patrol officers, and he had suffered a stroke six years earlier, which caused the injuries that appeared on his CT scan.
The Dollar Bill Scene
During Owens’ final statement to the court, he held up a dollar bill and said, “Gwyneth was hurt by his [Sanderson] negligence. She’s hurt, she’s sore, it rattled her. Apple was waiting at the bottom of the mountain and said, what happened? She [Paltrow] said, ‘some a**hole ran into me.'”
“She was upset. She was upset over lunch, and she said she didn’t want to ski again that day. She came for a family vacation, and half of that afternoon was ruined. So that dollar is important to us. It’s important to my client.”
Ex-Girlfriend Testimony
Terry Sanderson’s ex-girlfriend, Theresa Carline Davidson, also testified in court that Sanderson had been full of life and “joyful” before the accident. She added that when he arrived home from the crash, “He looked like a truck had hit him. He was disheveled; he didn’t look well. He looked like he was injured. He was cranky, ornery — he just wanted to go to bed.”
Affected Their Relationship
Ms. Davidson claims Sanderson looked like energy had been “zapped out of him,” which affected their relationship, leading to their split.
The Damage Fee
Sanderson and his legal team sought compensatory damages of $3.1 million from Gwyneth Paltrow. He claims the crash caused him a “Permanent traumatic brain injury, four broken ribs, pain, suffering, loss of enjoyment of life, emotional distress, and disfigurement.”
Dismissed
The judge presiding over the case in court dismissed the claims of the incident being a “hit-and-run,” also removing the lawsuit against Utah Resort and Paltrow’s instructor. Consequently, the court reduced the damage fee against Paltrow to a $300,000 claim by Sanderson.
Paltrow’s Counter Sue
Paltrow is countersuing Sanderson for trying to “exploit her celebrity and wealth” status with the accident and for “symbolic damages” of $1 and her legal fees.
