As Paltrow’s attorney Stephen Owens made his opening argument at Park City District Court on Tuesday, the lawyer asserted theAcademy Award-winning actress' trip to Deer Valley Resort with her family in Feb. 2016 “was a sentimental issue” for Paltrow, 50, after her fatherBruce Paltrow died in 2002 at age 58.
“So it was a sentimental issue because she had started getting back into skiing and she did it because she wanted her kids to learn like she had,” Owens said in his opening argument, as he noted that her now-husband Falchuk, 52, was also present that day.
“And [Falchuk] has kids the exact same age as Gwyneth’s daughter and son,” Owens told the court. “And this was really their first trip to sort of a have a mixed, see-if-this-might-work. So it was a special time and it was a lovely day.”
Gwyneth Paltrow and Terry Sanderson.Rick Bowmer-Pool/Getty (2)
Owens went on to describe the members of Paltrow’s skiing group on Feb. 26, 2016 as “she, Brad, now her husband who you’re going to hear from, her daughter Apple, who you’re going to hear from, Moses, who you’re gonna hear from,” throughout the trial, confirming that they expect Falchuk, 52, and Paltrow’s two children to testify.
Gwyneth Paltrow and Brad Falchuk.ANGELA WEISS/AFP/Getty
Apple and Moses, whom Paltrowshares with her ex-husbandChris Martin, were 11 and 9 at the time of the crash at hand in the lawsuit, respectively.
In Sanderson’s 2019 lawsuit, he accused Paltrow of colliding with him from behind while skiing down a beginner-level slope at Deer Valley Resort with a ski instructor back in Feb. 2016. Sanderson also alleged the ski instructor filed a false report claiming Paltrow did not cause the accident at the time.
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Sanderson originally described the incident as “a hit-and-run ski crash at Deer Valley, Utah” where Paltrow allegedly “skied out of control and hit” him in the back, adding she “got up, turned and skied away, leaving Sanderson stunned, lying in the snow, seriously injured,” according to his 2019 lawsuit.
Gwyneth Paltrow and Terry Sanderson.Manny Carabel/WireImage; Leah Hogsten/The Salt Lake Tribune via AP
The doctor requested damages in excess of $3.1 million, claiming the crash resulted in “permanent traumatic brain injury,” four broken ribs, pain, suffering, loss of enjoyment of life, emotional distress and disfigurement
A rep for Paltrow told PEOPLE at the time: “This lawsuit is completely without merit. Anyone who reads the facts will realize that.”
Paltrow alsodenied the allegations in a countersuitfiled the next month, claiming that Sanderson actually was the one who hit her from behind and is now trying to “exploit her celebrity and wealth.”
According to acalendar of scheduled hearingsfor the case, the trial is expected to run through Thursday, March 30.
source: people.com
