Beautiful Virgin Islands

Wednesday, Oct 08, 2025

Gwyneth Paltrow’s US lawsuit helped ‘humanise celebrities’, says jury foreman

Gwyneth Paltrow’s US lawsuit helped ‘humanise celebrities’, says jury foreman

Last week the Oscar-winning actress won the civil lawsuit, brought by retired optometrist Terry Sanderson over a ski collision in 2016.
Gwyneth Paltrow’s high-profile US lawsuit helped “humanise celebrities” to jury members, the foreman in the case has said.

Last week the Oscar-winning actress won the civil lawsuit, brought by retired optometrist Terry Sanderson, over a ski collision in 2016.

Ms Paltrow was cleared of all fault over the incident, which occurred at the Deer Valley resort in Utah, which left Mr Sanderson with several broken ribs and head injuries.

Jurors deliberated for just over two hours before returning a verdict in her favour, and awarding her damages of one dollar.

Speaking to Court TV, the foreman of the jury, Don, said he had appreciated hearing the actress speak about her childhood experiences of skiing with her father.

“(The trial) was cool to see how it works because, you know, you watch Law and Order and you watch these other things and they’re so scripted and so perfect and then obviously that’s not the way this trial went,” he said.

“The whole experience kind of humanised celebrities a little bit more for me because (Ms Paltrow) told the story about going skiing with her dad – that’s what the mountains are about to all those of us who love skiing and snowboarding and doing what we do.”

Don said that he had focussed on the body language of both Ms Paltrow and Mr Sanderson while they were giving evidence.

He told Court TV that Ms Paltrow’s recollection of the incident, in which she said she had briefly wondered if she was being assaulted, showed a “genuine human reaction”.

“I hope that she’s never had any kind of negative things like that, but that will be a reaction that a real person would have,” he said.

"The whole experience kind of humanised celebrities a little bit more for me"

“It just humanised her a little bit more to me because… if she was ever a victim of anything like that, that might be a reaction that people would have.

“So that just seemed like a legitimate thing that you might think for half a second (and)… again just kind of made it more real to me that that was her initial reaction.”

Don also said he had not been convinced by Mr Sanderson’s evidence, noting that he had seemed to “enjoy” being praised and complimented.

He said that “little things” had helped inform his decision, including Mr Sanderson’s lawyers discussion of how much money they could make from the case.

“You can’t say ‘the first thing we talked about was how much potentially money we get’, and then tell us the entire time it’s not about the money,” he said.

“It’s like, of course it’s about the money guys, we’re not here for Habitat for Humanity.”

Don told Court TV that he had ultimately done “what I think is right” when deciding on the verdict.

“You guys arbitrarily apply laws to different people in different ways… (but) I said, ‘I gotta go home and sleep with myself at night’,” he said.

“So I’m going to do what I think is right in my heart… but I want to be fair, and right with everybody. All we want in life is fairness.”

Ms Paltrow said she was “pleased with the outcome” of the trial following its conclusion on Thursday after two-weeks of evidence in Utah.

In a statement posted to her Instagram story she said she felt that “acquiescing to a false claim compromised my integrity”, and thanked jurors for their “thoughtfulness” in handling the case.
Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
France: Less Than a Month After His Appointment, the New French Prime Minister Resigns
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary will not adopt the euro because the European Union is falling apart.
Sarah Mullally Becomes First Woman Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury
Mayor in western Germany in intensive care after stabbing
Australian government pays Deloitte nearly half a million dollars for a report built on fabricated quotes, fake citations, and AI-generated nonsense.
US Prosecutors Gained Legal Approval to Hack Telegram Servers
Macron Faces Intensifying Pressure to Resign or Trigger New Elections Amid France’s Political Turmoil
Standard Chartered Names Roberto Hoornweg as Sole Head of Corporate & Investment Banking
UK Asylum Housing Firm Faces Backlash Over £187 Million Profits and Poor Living Conditions
UK Police Crack Major Gang in Smuggling of up to 40,000 Stolen Phones to China
BYD’s UK Sales Soar Nearly Nine-Fold, Making Britain Its Biggest Market Outside China
Trump Proposes Farm Bailout from Tariff Revenues Amid Backlash from Other Industries
FIFA Accuses Malaysia of Forging Citizenship Documents, Suspends Seven Footballers
Latvia to Bar Tourist and Occasional Buses to Russia and Belarus Until 2026
A Dollar Coin Featuring Trump’s Portrait Expected to Be Issued Next Year
Australia Orders X to Block Murder Videos, Citing Online Safety and Public Exposure
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
×