Following Gwyneth Paltrow's testimony at the end of last week's proceedings, the personal injury trial between a Utah man and the "Shakespeare in Love" actor entered its second week on Monday.
The previous week saw four days of testimony from a man who said he witnessed the event, several medical experts who were given personal injury information to review, and family members of the plaintiff, Terry Sanderson.
Sanderson took the stand on Monday to tell his version of the story.
Sanderson said he was skiing the Bandana Run at Deer Valley Resort when he heard a scream from behind him before he alleges Paltrow hit him from behind and the two toppled. He said he doesn't recall if Paltrow said anything to him, but he remembered being confronted by a ski instructor who had been hired by Paltrow and her family that day.
I only heard a mad, angry, male voice," he said.
The instructor, Eric Christiansen, was named in Sanderson's original suit and accused of filing a false report. The report, which was shown as evidence on the first day of the trail, asserted Sanderson ran into the back of Paltrow, though it also stated Christiansen hadn't actually witnessed the event.
It stated Sanderson admitted to being the uphill skier, which would have given Paltrow the right-of-way. Sanderson said he doesn't remember Christiansen asking him any specific questions about the crash, but he does recall the man allegedly yelling at him and berating him for colliding with Paltrow.
Witness Craig Ramon also testified that Christiansen didn't ask Sanderson any questions about the cause of the crash.
Paltrow and Christiansen reportedly skied away from the scene without providing or helping find help or swapping contact information, which Sanderson and Ramon both said were "rules of the road."
The content hidden behind a link containing potential evidence was also a topic.
When asked if he had a GoPro, Sanderson said he did, but he didn't have it for the crash. He also said no videos have surfaced from anyone else.
When asked if he ever heard about footage existing, he effectively put the issue to bed by saying, "there was no GoPro."
9 a.m. - New evidence introduced
A new piece of evidence, found by a viewer who's been following the trial, was introduced Monday.
Third District Judge Kent R. Holmberg began proceedings by introducing the new evidence, which attorneys were made aware of on Friday. Throughout the trial, the defense has talked about an email between the plaintiff and one of his daughters after the 2016 incident, in which his daughter wrote that she couldn't believe "it's all on GoPro."
She testified the GoPro video was speculated to exist, saying her father assumed that with the number of people at the resort, someone was bound to have a video camera running.
Both Paltrow and Sanderson said the other caused the crash, and such a video could put the issue to rest.
The email contained a meetup.com link to a gallery of ski photos, according to the url. However, the link has since been broken, and the defense has not been able to find whatever was in the gallery more than 7 years ago. The viewer, with experiencing in accessing archived internet content, was able to find what was housed in that meetup.com folder.
There turned out to be no GoPro video inside. Instead, the link led to a meetup.com skiing group photo that included chats between members.
The photo showed a member of Ski Patrol who brought Sanderson down the mountain in a toboggan after he sustained injuries in the crash.
Some of the group, of which Sanderson was a part, had gone to Deer Valley Resort in February 2016 to ski, which ended, for Sanderson at least, following the crash with Paltrow.
The only witness to the crash itself, Craig Ramon, was called again to the stand to discuss the new evidence.
Ramon testified on Day 1 on Tuesday.
On Monday, he was asked if he knew of any video footage that existed, or if he was ever made aware that such evidence might exist, he said, "No."
Sanderson sued Paltrow for more than $3 million in 2019, alleging a ski crash between the two on the slopes of Utah's Deer Valley Resort in 2016 had left him with a permanent brain injury.
The suit accused Paltrow of a "hit and run," which was later dismissed by a judge. An amended suit was then filed, seeking damages of $300,000 for negligence due to Paltrow leaving the scene.
Paltrow took the stand on Friday and said the collision was not her fault. She said two skis slid between hers and she was unsure what was happening in that moment.
His body pressed up into my back, so I froze," she said, adding that they fell together and it was like they were "spooning."
Paltrow said she did not inquire about Sanderson's well-being because she saw him stand and heard him say he was "OK."
So, because I was hit by Mr. Sanderson, and he was at fault, I assumed that Eric — who was our ski instructor, who was there at the time, who was overseeing the event — he said, ‘I’m going to leave all of your information,’ and he said, ‘You should go ahead and ski down,’ because my kids were down because my kids were waiting for me," Paltrow said.
Paltrow also said when she was bit from behind she feared it was a sexual assault, as she said she heard “grunting” from a male skier.