Gwyneth Paltrow wins ski crash trial, awarded $1 in damages

After two weeks of testimony, digital recreations, math equations, and memes, Gwyneth Paltrow's ski trial has reached a verdict.

A jury in Park City, Utah, found Thursday that the actress and lifestyle guru, 50, was not at fault for the collision that occurred between her and retired optometrist Terry Sanderson, 76, on a Deer Valley Resort ski slope in 2016. As a result, Paltrow will receive her symbolic $1 in damages plus lawyers fees from Sanderson.

Jurors in the civil trial deliberated for a little more than two hours before delivering the verdict. Paltrow, dressed in a blue blazer and striped dress shirt, sat quietly as the verdict was read, at one point lowering her head slightly and appearing to breathe a sigh of relief.

Sanderson sued Paltrow for $300,000 in damages for what he described as a "full-body hit" that left him with multiple broken ribs and "loss of enjoyment of life." In response, Paltrow countersued Sanderson for $1 plus additional legal fees.

While delivering closing arguments Thursday, Sanderson's attorney Robert Sykes stressed that his client had been forever changed by the accident that took place on that snow-covered hill. "He never returned home that night as the same man. Terry has tried to get off that mountain but he's really still there," Sykes said. "Part of Terry will forever be on that Bandana run."

Paltrow's lawyer, Steve Owens, said it took "a lot of courage" for the Goop founder to stand on trial and be treated "as a punching bag" for the last two weeks during their own closing arguments. He then noted that Sanderson ruined "a very delicate time" in Paltrow and her then-boyfriend Brad Falchuk's relationship "where they were trying to get their kids together."

Owens added, "[Sanderson] hit her, he hurt her, and he wants $3 million dollars for it." (In his original complaint, Sanderson sued Paltrow for $3.1 million dollars, which was dismissed by a judge and later refiled for $300,000, per the Associated Press.)

"The easy thing for my client would be to write a check and be done with it, but what would that tell her kids?" Owens asked the jury, referring to Paltrow's daughter Apple and son Moses, who both provided written depositions that were read aloud by their mom's legal team during the trial.

While on the witness stand on March 24, Paltrow recalled the collision and how, for a brief moment, she thought that she was being sexually assaulted. "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," she said. "My brain was trying to make sense of what was happening. I thought, 'Is this a practical joke? Is someone doing something perverted? This is really, really strange.'"

As a result of the accident, Paltrow said that her back felt sore and her right knee felt "overstretched," forcing her to lose half a day of skiing — for which she'd paid $8,980 for her and her children — in order to get a massage.

One of the most highly discussed issues of the trial was who crashed into whom on the mountain. Paltrow and her team argued, both on the witness stand and through the use of digital recreations, that Sanderson crashed into her. Conversely, Sanderson claimed that he was sent "absolutely flying" when she collided into him.

The proceedings have also touched on the power of fame and how it has affected the trial, with Sanderson's team at one point pressing Paltrow on whether her decision to sue Sanderson for $1 was inspired by Taylor Swift's own $1 lawsuit in 2015. In response, Paltrow noted that, while she and Swift are "friendly," they aren't close, adding, "I would not say we're good friends."

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