Jury backs Paltrow in ski collision trial

Gwyneth Paltrow wasn’t to blame for a 2016 collision with a retired optometrist on a beginner run at a posh Utah ski resort during a family vacation, a jury decided Thursday following a livestreamed trial that became a pop-culture fixation.

A jury awarded Paltrow $1 — a symbolic amount she asked for in order to show it wasn’t about money — and delivered her the vindication she sought when she opted to take it to trial rather than settle out of court.

“I felt that acquiescing to a false claim compromised my integrity,” Paltrow said in a statement. She also thanked the judge and jury for their work.

As Paltrow left court, she touched Terry Sanderson’s shoulder and told him, “I wish you well,” he told reporters outside court. He responded, “Thank you, dear.”

Paltrow, an actor who in recent years has refashioned herself into a celebrity wellness entrepreneur, looked to her attorneys with a pursed lips smile when the judge read the eight-member jury’s verdict in the Park City courtroom. She sat intently through two weeks of testimony in what became the biggest celebrity court case since actors Johnny Depp and Amber Heard faced off last year.

After the verdict was read, the judge polled the jury, which was unanimous on the decision. In civil court in Utah, only three-fourths of jurors need to agree on a verdict. The attorney fees Paltrow asked for in her countersuit were not included in the jury’s verdict, leaving the bulk of the final award for the Park City judge to decide.

Addressing reporters after the verdict, Sanderson questioned whether the lawsuit was worth it and said he believed that people tend to naturally trust celebrities like Paltrow.

“You get some assumed credibility from being a famous person,” Sanderson said. “Really, who wants to take on a celebrity?”

The jury’s decision marks a painful court defeat for Sanderson, the man who sued Paltrow for more than $300,000 (U.S.) over injuries he sustained when they crashed on the ski slope at Deer Valley Resort.