A lawyer for the man accusing Gwyneth Paltrow of having caused a 2016 ski crash used a made-up equation to claim that the actor owes his client $33 an hour, or $3.2m in total, for his injuries.
Retired eye doctor Terry Sanderson, 76, claims that he was struck by Ms Paltrow on the slopes of the Deer Valley Resort in Park City, Utah, while the Goop mogul argues that it was Mr Sanderson who caused the crash.
One of the accuser’s lawyers, Lawrence Buhler, argued that for 16 hours every day, Mr Sanderson is forced to live with the consequences of the crash.
While no value can be ascertained as to Mr Sanderson’s quality of life, Mr Buhler argued, he randomly suggested that jurors consider granting him $33 for every hour he’s suffered from cognitive decline since the accident seven years ago, and for the 10 years he is estimated to live.
“There are lawyers and experts here ... some who are making $300, $500 an hour,” Mr Buhler said. “I’m going to suggest a number, you put in the number you think is fair for Terry. The full value of the harm and losses that he’s dealing with every day. I’m going to say $33.”
According to Mr Buhler’s equation, Mr Sanderson should be awarded $3.2m, the sum he initially filed for back in 2019 before Judge Kent Holmberg lowered the amount to $300,000.
Mr Buhler told jurors that Mr Sanderson will have to deal with his “invisible brain injury” for the rest of his life.
“They last a lifetime. They last forever,” Mr Buhler said.
“When people get to know him, after a while they don’t want to deal with him anymore.”
Ms Paltrow’s attorney Steve Owens said that his client was a “punching bag” who was the true victim of the incident.
“He hurt her and then he asked $3m for the pleasure of it,” Mr Owens said.
He went on to argue that Ms Paltrow was trying to make an impression on her children by choosing to bring the lawsuit to trial.
“The easy thing for my client was to write a check and be done with it,” Mr Owens said. “But what does that teach her kids?”
He added that Mr Sanderson’s pre-existing conditions are to blame for the decline in his health.
“He’s 76,” Mr Owens told jurors. “My parents, I mean, I’m not being flippant but they were dead by then.”
“They certainly weren’t taking 10 trips around the world,” he said.
The case has dragged on for years after retired optometrist Mr Sanderson raised the allegations against Ms Paltrow in a 2019 lawsuit.
Mr Sanderson says the collision left him with a permanent traumatic brain injury that has robbed him of “his enjoyment for life”.
Ms Paltrow claims that it was Mr Sanderson who crashed into her Ms Paltrow — she is seeking a symbolic $1 and for her legal costs to be covered.
