Gwyneth Paltrow left retired optometrist with brain damage after 'slamming' into him in ski crash, court hears
22 March 2023, 10:19 | Updated: 22 March 2023, 10:24
Gwyneth Paltrow 'slammed' into a 72-year-old retired optometrist while skiing in Utah in 2016, leaving him face down and unconscious in the snow before 'bolting', a court heard.
Gwyneth Paltrow ‘slammed’ into skier then ‘bolted’ without a word, US court is told
Eyewitness Greg Ramon, 58, testified that Paltrow 'slammed' into his friend 'very hard' and left him with permanent brain damage.
His friend Terry Sanderson, 72, is suing the Oscar-winning actress after claiming she slammed into him on a skiing holiday in 2016 leaving him with a brain injury and four broken ribs.
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Ramon, who was with the alleged victim at the time of the crash, testified on the first day of the trial yesterday: "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.
"Terry stops, then Gwyneth slid down to the right side. She bounced off of him."
Witness Ramon later added: "I was asking Terry, are you ok? His face was down in the snow and he wasn't moving.
"Then 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 film star turned wellness influencer was on the skiing holiday in Utah with children and husband when the accident occurred. She is being sued by Sanderson for $300,000.
Paltrow has since counter-sued Sanderson's claim for $1, alleging that she was the victim of the crash.
The actress's lawyer, Stephen Owens, said that Sanderson's version of events was "utter BS" and that the "full-body blow" left Paltrow bruised and upset.
Owens argued that Sanderson only said he was injured after realising it was the actress who he had collided with and that he reassured ski staff after the incident that he was fine.
Paltrow's husband and son, Brad Falchuk, 52, and Moses Paltrow, 16, who witnessed the aftermath of the crash are due to testify later in trial.
The trial is listed for eight days.
