Gwyneth Paltrow is being sued for more than $3 million after being accused of committing a “hit-and-run ski crash” that left a man seriously injured, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday in Utah.
Terry Sanderson is suing the Oscar winner, saying that she knocked him out after she was”skiing out of control” and ran into him from behind during a February 2016 trip to the Deer Valley Ski Resort in Park City, Utah. Making matters worse, Paltrow not only failed to help but “got up, turned and skied away, leaving Sanderson stunned, lying in the snow, seriously injured,” according to his lawsuit.
Eric Christiansen, Paltrow’s Deer Valley ski instructor, also declined to help Sanderson and blamed the crash on him, the lawsuit claimed. Sanderson suffered four broken ribs, “permanent traumatic brain injury” and emotional distress from the collision, according to his lawsuit. Sanderson, a retired 72-year-old optometrist, is seeking $3.1 million in damages.
A rep for Paltrow’s company Goop told TheWrap the lawsuit is “completely without merit” and that “anyone who reads the facts will realize that.”
The lawsuit claims Paltrow was “skiing too fast for her ability on a beginner run” when she ran into Sanderson, who was nearing the end of the slope.
In a taped interview shared by one of Sanderson’s lawyers at a Tuesday press conference, Craig Ramon, who had joined Sanderson on his ski trip, said he heard a “a yell” right as Paltrow ran into Sanderson. “They looked like one person basically going down,”Ramon said. “She lands right on top of him and then she slides off to the side.”
Pamela Chelin contributed to this report.