Not happy. Gwyneth Paltrow appeared visibly annoyed while listening to testimony from plaintiff Terry Sanderson’s daughter, Shae Sanderson Herath, during day four of her ski crash trial.
Sanderson is suing Paltrow, 50, for allegedly hitting her in 2016 while skiing in Deer Valley, Utah. The Iron Man actress, for her part, countersued the doctor, claiming she was the one knocked down on the slopes by him.
“This appears to be the post that your dad put out the day of the incident, talking about the Wendy Smith that helped him down from the mountain,” Sanderson’s attorney said in court on Friday, March 24, showing a picture of a woman who assisted the doctor following his 2016 accident. “Have you ever seen this?”
Herath, who had taken the stand in support of her father, acknowledged the poster and pointed to Smith as the person who helped her dad following the accident.
“I recognize this woman’s smile. I do remember, he had an awful day, but this woman came to his rescue,” Herath said on Friday. “She was his angel and taking care of him finally after a long time of being ignored on the mountain.”
The judge, however, instructed the jury to disregard the last part of the witness’ comment as it was “hearsay.”
At that time, the camera panned over to the Shallow Hal actress who shook her head and appeared to be annoyed with Herath’s statement. Paltrow — who was seemingly straight faced from the start of the trial — crossed her arms and shook her head back and forth with her lips pursed.
Meanwhile, Paltrow’s kids — daughter Apple, 18, and son Moses, 16, whom she shares with ex-husband Chris Martin — are set to take the stand later in the trial. Her children, as well as her husband, Brad Falchuk, were all on the 2016 trip with the actress when the alleged incident took place.
The Shakespeare in Love star first made headlines in January 2019 when she was sued by Sanderson after he claimed Paltrow injured him during a crash on the slopes in Deer Valley, Utah in February 2016.
“Gwyneth Paltrow skied out of control and hit the back of Terry Sanderson, another skier, who was downhill, knocking him down hard, knocking him out, and causing a brain injury, four broken ribs and other serious injuries,” court documents obtained by Us Weekly at the time stated. “Paltrow got up, turned and skied away, leaving Sanderson stunned, lying in the snow, seriously injured.”
The physician alleged that a Deer Valley ski instructor “failed to send help” after seeing him down on the slope. Sanderson further claimed that the instructor “filed a false report to protect his client Ms. Paltrow.”
The now-retired optometrist filed the lawsuit seeking more than $3 million in damages. According to docs obtained by Us in March, the judge lowered the doctor’s claim from $3.1 million to $300,000.
Paltrow, for her part, denied the allegations to Us in a January 2019 statement saying, “This lawsuit is completely without merit and we expect to be vindicated.”
The Goop founder then filed her own countersuit in February 2019 seeking a jury trial and a symbolic $1 in damages.
“[Paltrow] was enjoying skiing with her family on vacation in Utah, when Plaintiff — who was uphill from Ms. Paltrow — plowed into her back,” her legal team claimed in court documents obtained by Us. “She sustained a full ‘body blow.’ Ms. Paltrow was angry with Plaintiff, and said so. Plaintiff apologized. She was shaken and upset, and quit skiing for the day even though it was still morning.”
Seven years after the skiing incident, the civil lawsuit moved forward and a trial began at the Park City District Court on Tuesday, March 21. It will continue for eight days.
On Thursday, March 23, Paltrow again raised eyebrows when her security team’s request to give treats to the courtroom bailiffs was shut down. After representatives for Sanderson voiced concerns over the possible gift, the treats were rejected.
“OK, there’s an objection so thank you, but no thank you,” Judge Kent Holmberg said. “If the parties decide to do that later, that’s fine, too.”
