A Utah doctor has filed a lawsuit against Gwyneth Paltrow, accusing the Oscar-winning actress and lifestyle guru of severely injuring him during a “hit-and-run ski crash” at the Deer Valley Ski Resort in Park City, Utah.
During a press conference Tuesday afternoon, attorney Robert Sykes told reporters that his client, Dr. Terry Sanderson, broke four ribs and suffered a brain injury when Paltrow crashed into him from behind as they were skiing down the mountain’s “Bandana” run in 2016. Sanderson, who is suing both Paltrow and the resort, is asking for over $3.1 million in damages.
“What Miss Paltrow did that day was run into Mr. Sanderson, picked herself up, dusted herself off, and skied away,” Sykes said, insisting that Paltrow had a “duty to render aid, to report” the February 2016 accident.
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“Rules even apply to celebrities, even apply to Gwyneth Paltrow,” Sykes continued.
According to Sanderson and his lawyers, Paltrow was skiing down the slope behind Sanderson when she let out a “hysterical scream, like King Kong,” and crashed into him, landing on his body. Paltrow then allegedly got up and skied away after the resort instructor accompanying her “berated” Sanderson for “taking out Gwyneth Paltrow.”
“A lot of people who ski up there don’t know what they’re doing,” Sanderson, a self-described “intermediate-advanced” skier, told reporters. “They like the poshness but they don’t know what they’re doing.”
In a video statement played at the press conference, witness Craig Ramon claimed the instructor yelled at Sanderson as he laid face down in the snow. After several minutes, the ski instructor—or “mountain host”—helped Sanderson get back on his feet and followed Paltrow down the mountain without calling for medical help, Ramon said.
Ramon added that Paltrow wouldn’t respond to him when he asked if she was okay after the crash, and that the instructor gave him a dirty look after exclaiming, “Your buddy just took out Gwyneth Paltrow!”
After the crash, Sanderson’s personality changed, and he suffered memory problems as a result of his brain injury, he alleges. He told reporters that at times he “felt mentally ill” and “couldn’t function” in the months following the incident. According to Sanderson, Paltrow allegedly had “lunch with her entourage and family and had a massage” after the accident.
Sanderson’s lawyers told reporters that Paltrow’s attorneys are allegedly attempting to claim Sanderson hit Paltrow and could be preparing a countersuit. The doctor, who was 69-years-old at the time of the crash, said he no longer practices medicine.
“I have some pride in the truth,” Sanderson said, when asked why he was suing Paltrow. “Reliving this is hard, and I’ve had to do it a number of times.”
Paltrow’s rep told The Daily Beast that Sanderson’s suit was “completely without merit and anyone who reads the facts will realize that.”
