PARK CITY, Utah — When two sailors first collided at an upscale Utah ski resort in 2016, no one could have predicted that seven years later, the crash would become the subject of a celebrity-focused trial.
but Gwyneth Paltrow’s live-streamed trial over the meeting with Terry Sanderson, a 76-year-old retired optometrist, in Park City emerged as the most famous court case with the actors Johnny Depp and Amber Heard a year ago – spawning memes, sparking debate about the burden of fame, and doing so ski custom dining rules who was steep and who had the right to go beyond those who can donate chairlift tickets.
on thursday Paltrow won the court battle After the jury decided not to blame the movie star for the crash. Here’s a look back at the highlights of the two-week trial:
THE LIVES OF THE RICH AND NOBLE
For seven days, agents highlighted — and played with — Paltrow and Sanderson’s lavish lifestyles.
Sanderson’s attorneys sought more than $300,000 in damages, but the money for both sides paled in comparison to the legal costs typical of a multiyear lawsuit. Equipped on both sides brigades of* an expert witnesses, including a biomechanical engineer and a conflict expert.
Paltrow’s legal team tried to represent Sanderson, an angry, canine man who had traveled internationally after the stroke. Photographs included Sanderson riding a camel in Morocco, trekking the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu in Peru, and taking a continental loop through Europe with stops in Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, France and the Netherlands.
Sanderson’s prosecutors questioned Paltrow about that day’s $8,890 bill for private tutors to accompany the four boys, as well as her decision to leave the slopes after the crash to get a massage. They said Sanderson’s chances of becoming distant from friends and family grew, and called for his ex-girlfriend to testify how their relationship deteriorated because “he had no joy in his life.”
To keep the jurors engaged, Paltrow’s team shared a series of advanced, high-resolution animations to accompany their collection of evidence. They were given financial reasons in Paltrow and the defense team’s favorite cause.
Burden of Fame
Attorneys from here and there have tapped into the power of celebrity to make their case based on their beliefs and moral principles that would be used in court.
Sanderson’s side tried to point out Paltrow, the actor-turned-influencer of the lifestyle, as a way to escape formlessness, touch and pay. They they liked it his plan to file a $1 against Sanderson to Taylor Swift, who filed a similar lawsuit in the lawsuit in 2017 — referring to Paltrow’s testimony that she was “not good friends” with Quick but just “friends.”
Paltrow’s defense team he called He suggested that the cause was widely publicized as an attempt to drag down his reputation and that he was subject to unfair, frivolous lawsuits. Witnesses questioned the cause of Sanderson’s “obsession” and the subject of the subject line, in which Sanderson wrote after the encounter: “I am very famous.”
“He’s going to be famous, he’s going to sleep,” one of Paltrow’s agents said. “I’m not into celebrity worship,” Sanderson later denied.
MEME WORKSHOP
Although the trial tested the jurors’ patience as its eight members gradually sunk deeper into their chairs for hours of expert testimony, it enlisted viewers worldwide, became late-night television fodder and fed an insatiable meme appetite.
Viewers tuning into the trial on CourtTV saw Paltrow complain about half a day of skiing after the crash and heard a radiologist testify that Sanderson could no longer enjoy the taste of wine. They compared the show to “White Wash” — the HBO series that saturates the lighthearted grievances of rich, white vacationers — and, in a bid to attract theatrical and public attention, likened Paltrow’s defense of the Salem witch trials to Arthur Miller’s “The Cross.”
Photographs of Paltrow entering and exiting the courtroom — often shielding her face, perp-style, with her blue GP initials — have also gone viral on social media.
UTAH’S POSHEST SKI VILLAGE
The trials drew the world’s attention to Park City, Utah, a silver boomtown turned posh ski, where Paltrow and Sanderson crashed and the trial was held. The city annually hosts the You gave a film at Sundancewhere early in Paltrow’s career she would appear at awards shows for her films, including 1998’s “Sliding Doors,” at which time she became known primarily as an actor, not a celebrity health entrepreneur.
Judges and local residents who braved the blizzards to attend the forum each day nodded to the attorneys of the area known as Deer Valley Montage, the luxury hillside resort where Paltrow got a massage after the crash.
The all-white jurors were drawn from registered voters in Summit County, where the average home sold for $1.3 million last month and residents tend to be less religious than the rest of Utah, where the majority of residents belong to the Church of Jesus Christ. Today is Saints’ Day.
Unlike high-profile Hollywood attorneys who become household names in celebrity trials, both sides were represented by local attorneys. Paltrow’s team specialized in medical malpractice cases, while Sanderson counsel lead Bob Sykes was known in Salt Lake City for requesting “police presentations” services. Sykes tried to play up his popularity, referring to himself as a “righteous countryman” more than six times in court. After the jurors were sent home Wednesday, both lawyers joked about the trial’s gimmick.
The Mystery of the Missing GoPro
Paltrow’s attorneys entered the jury with questions about the potential conflict video captured on helmet camalthough no footage was added during the trial.
Sanderson’s daughter testified this week that he sent an email the day of the accident referring to the GoPro not involving the footage. He said he and his father thought that during the busy race, someone carrying a camera must have turned to watch the crash after hearing Paltrow’s screams.
Internet sleuths following the trial later found it and sent agents a link to the attached email. More than the GoPro footage he released though, it contained a chatroom discussion between members of Sanderson’s ski group, including one who testified that he was the only witness who witnessed Paltrow crashing into Sanderson.
JUDGMENT
Paltrow looked at her attorneys with a pursed-lipped smile as the 18-member jury read the verdict in a Park City courtroom.
The judges awarded $1; However, the attorney fees requested in the lawsuit did not include a verdict, leaving the bulk of the final award for a Park City judge to decide. An unknown judge will decide who. No decision was posted on Friday’s online court docket.
Paltrow thanked the judges and jury for their work.
“He felt my integrity,” the actor said in a statement released by deputies.
As Paltrow left the courtroom, Sanderson touched her shoulder and told her, “I’m fine,” Sanderson told reporters outside the courtroom. I replied, “Thank you.”
Furman reported from Los Angeles.
