Acquittal for Gwyneth Paltrow: She is not responsible for the skiing accident

Hollywood star Gwyneth Paltrow (50, “Iron Man”) has been seen in a Utah courtroom since last week, usually with a straight face. Visibly relieved, she waved to onlookers and reporters as she left the building on Thursday (local time). Minutes earlier, the Oscar winner had won a headline-making lawsuit over a skiing accident. She was not guilty of a 2016 crash on a runway at Utah’s Deer Valley ski area, eight jurors found.

After an eight-day trial with many witnesses and expert testimony, the jury deliberated for only two and a half hours and then reached a unanimous verdict. The jury found the plaintiff, now 76, fully responsible for the incident. He must now pay Paltrow a token compensation of one US dollar. The judge wants to decide in a later session whether the man must also pay the actress’s legal costs.

Paltrow thanked the judge and jury for their “hard work” in a statement. She did not give any interviews after the verdict, but the actress emphasized her willingness to fight the case in court. Simply accepting the accuser’s false claim would have compromised her “integrity,” Paltrow wrote in her statement. She filed a countersuit seeking a token dollar in damages and reimbursement of her attorney fees.

It shouldn’t have been easy for her to appear in front of the court cameras. Just like last year in the bitter defamation trial between ex-husbands Johnny Depp and Amber Heard, every day of the trial was broadcast live worldwide.

3 million in damages

On the witness stand, Paltrow fought back with all her might against the prosecution’s charges, who accused her of skiing “out of control,” crashing into him and thus blaming his permanent brain damage and quadruple broken ribs. The retiree had initially demanded more than $3 million in damages. However, a judge rejected some of the allegations and reduced the possible damages to $300,000 (approximately CHF 274,000).

The man “skidded right into my back,” Paltrow said in court. She was confused and initially feared the clash was a prank or sexual in nature. “I was skiing and two skis got between my skis and pushed my legs apart. And then a body pressed against me. And I heard a very strange growling sound.” It was a bizarre incident: “I was frozen and a few seconds later I got very angry,” she added.

The prosecution, in turn, presented the accident very differently: Paltrow drove into him with such force that he was flung through the air. Ski instructors, doctors and eyewitnesses spoke. Earlier testimonials from Paltrow’s children, Apple and Moses Martin, were also read. They did not immediately follow the accident, but their then 11-year-old daughter Apple said a little later that her mother seemed shocked. Son Moses, then nine years old, found his mother cursing loudly on the slopes.

Paltrow, who has children Apple and Moses with her ex-husband, Coldplay singer Chris Martin, was on a skiing holiday with her new boyfriend Brad Falchuk and his children. In 2018, the Oscar winner (“Shakespeare in Love”) married the screenwriter and producer. (sda/dpa)