Attorneys for Paltrow and the 76-year-old man suing her described their clients in closing arguments as aggrieved victims participating in a years-long legal battle to take a stand for truth. The eight-person jury is tasked with weighing dueling versions of who was the downhill skier, making the other side culpable according to a skier responsibility code.
During closing arguments, Paltrow’s attorneys asked jurors to disregard the opposing side’s emotional pleas for sympathy of Sanderson over the state of his relationships. The retired optometrist has said the collision left him with a concussion and four broken ribs. Paltrow’s legal team said that for their client, it would’ve been easier to simply write a check, settle the lawsuit and put the crash behind her.
“But what would that teach her children?” attorney Steve Owens asked jurors Thursday.
Accompanying his remarks were high-resolution animations depicting Paltrow’s version of events, which have been shown throughout the trial in the Park City courtroom.
“It’s not about the money. It’s about ruining a very delicate time in a relationship where they were trying to get their kids together,” Owens said.
Paltrow, an actress who in recent years has refashioned herself into a celebrity wellness entrepreneur, 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.
The dismissal concludes two weeks of courtroom proceedings that hinged largely on reputation rather than the monetary damages at stake in the case. Paltrow’s attorneys described the complaint against her as “utter BS.” and painted the Goop founder-CEO as uniquely vulnerable to unfair, frivolous lawsuits due to her celebrity.
Paltrow took the witness stand during the trial to insist the collision wasn’t her fault, and to describe how she was stunned when she felt “a body pressing against me and a very strange grunting noise.”
Throughout the trial, the word “uphill” became synonymous with “guilty,” as attorneys focused on a largely unknown skiing code of conduct that stipulates that the skier who is downhill or ahead on the slope has the right of way.
Worldwide audiences followed the celebrity trial as if it were episodic television. Viewers scrutinized both Paltrow and Sanderson’s motives while attorneys directed questions to witnesses that often had less to do with the collision and more to do with their client’s reputations.
The trial took place in Park City, a resort town known for hosting the annual Sundance Film Festival, where early in her career Paltrow would appear for the premieres of her movies including 1998′s “Sliding Doors,” at a time when she was known primarily as an actor, not a lifestyle influencer. Paltrow is also known for her roles in “Shakespeare in Love” and the “Iron Man” movies.
