Man’s injuries suggest Gwyneth Paltrow skied into him from behind, court told

The Oscar-winning actor is being sued by Mr Sanderson for allegedly “slamming” into him from behind, leaving him unresponsive and with several broken ribs.

On the second day of the case, taking place in Park City, Utah, jurors heard testimony from radiologist Wendell Gibby, who examined Mr Sanderson in the aftermath of the crash.

Dr Gibby told the court that Mr Sanderson would have “protected himself” if he had been colliding with Ms Paltrow head on.

“I think it’s very unlikely that this would have been caused by Terry running into Gwyneth Paltrow,” he said.

“Based on the stated testimony of the defendant, of (witness) Craig Ramon, and the pattern of injuries that are present… what I believe happened was that he was struck from the left side and that forced him into the ground.

“The combined weight of the two individuals slamming into the ground caused the fracture and the head injury.

“I don’t think it would be plausible that if he were running into her he would have broken the ribs on the side of his chest – he likely would have had his arms extended, he would have protected himself.

“Had he been the person running into her, I don’t think he would have sustained these types of injuries.”

Dr Gibby added that prior to the incident, Mr Sanderson had been “a very high-functioning, high-energy person”.

“But after his accident he deteriorated abruptly and many of the activities he was doing he stopped doing,” he told the court.

“His personal interactions with his children and grandchildren suffered and he had trouble multi-tasking… Those are all typical hallmarks of someone who has had a traumatic brain injury. I think that the ability to function at a high level was lost for Terry… many of the things that gave him pleasure in life seem to have been abruptly diminished by this injury.”

During the first day of the trial, jurors heard from Mr Ramon, who had been skiing with Mr Sanderson and was present in the aftermath of the collision.

Mr Ramon said he had seen a skier, later identified as Paltrow, “slam” into Mr Sanderson and later “bolt” down the hill without saying a word. He also said that a Deer Valley employee had arrived on the scene shortly after, who had told him “your buddy just took out Gwyneth Paltrow”.

After a judge threw out Sanderson’s earlier $3.1m (€2.8m) lawsuit, Mr Sanderson amended his claims and now alleges damages of “more than $300,000”.

Ms Paltrow is counter-suing Mr Sanderson for a token $1, alleging that he was the one who crashed into her.

The case continues.