Gwyneth Paltrow trial day 3: Plaintiff's daughter says dad changed after Utah ski crash

May 2024 · 4 minute read

Day 3 of the trial derived from a 2016 skiing collision between actress Gwyneth Paltrow and retired ophthalmologist Terry Sanderson is underway in Utah's Third District Court in Park City Thursday.

Following the objection-ridden opening statements on Tuesday and expert testimony Wednesday that prompted the judge to call the counsel to the bench for off-the-record conversations multiple times, family members provided their testimonies.

Sanderson's daughters testified during the proceedings.

Plaintiff's daughter said 'goer' dad now 'easily frustrated

Polly Sanderson Grasham, 49, under direct examination, said her father was “a goer, gregarious, and a multitasker” before the crash with Paltrow.

Now, Grasham said he struggles cognitively.

There was time when I felt like drool would come out of his mouth,” Grasham recounted from the stand. “He can’t see the forest through the trees. He gets caught up in details.”

She answered questions regarding her father's behavior prior to and following the incident on the mountainside. She said her father's disposition and problem-solving abilities have deteriorated.

It feels like after the accident, he's a little more involved in his own world," she said. "That's harder to sustain connections when it's kind of, 'all about me' right now. That's a change. It makes it really hard to just genuinely care about people. That's part of our connection."

She said he's now easily frustrated and is quick to anger.

I didn't have memories of him being an angry person," she said. "But he's got a pretty short fuse these days."

"Utter BS"

An attorney for Paltrow called Sanderson’s claims earlier this week “utter BS.”

In court testimony the last two days, Paltrow's legal team has not refuted mental decline for Sanderson, who is a retired optometrist in his mid 70s, but implied that it’s the result of previous health issues and/or aging.

Paltrow has counter-sued Sanderson, as she is seeking just $1 and legal fees, saying he crashed into her on a Deer Valley beginner run.

Court sees video deposition from expert witness

Up first, though, was an expert witness whose deposition drew objections from Paltrow's attorneys in pre-trial proceedings. Third District Judge Kent R. Holmberg ordered portions of the deposition be stricken from the record, which later required plaintiff's attorneys to skip to specific portions of a pre-recorded testimony.

Following some audio equipment adjustments, proceedings officially began with the video testimony from clinical neuropsychologist Alina Kapahupineakaleikoa Fong, who treated Sanderson in 2017 for a brain injury he said happened in the collision.

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Fong called Sanderson "an ideal patient," who underwent up to 32 hours of therapy a week for symptoms of concussion.

According to the testimony, Sanderson sustained a traumatic brain injury in the crash.

The plaintiff also "suffered post-concussion symptoms," Fong testified.

By the time I saw him, he was struggling with these concussion symptoms for almost a year and a half,” said Dr. Alina Fong, under direct questioning by a plaintiff’s attorney. “He’s still struggling. This has completely changed his life.”

Fong was educated at BYU, and started a concussion clinic in Boston with famed quarterback Tom Brady.

She described Sanderson as “dejected and crying” over memory and other issues from the concussion.

A Paltrow lawyer questioned Fong, stating she did not ask for Sanderson’s medical records.

I do not have time to pore over every single medical record,” she replied. “My job is to get the patient better.”

Defense questions seemed to center on whether Sanderson’s symptoms could have happened from other factors beyond the crash.

Fong and the defense had spirited courtroom exchanges. At one point, she said a defense point was “a red herring.”

In the back and forth, Fong told defense lawyer James Egan he was doing his job “relatively well.”

At another point in testimony, Fong said of upcoming defense witnesses, “They have a lot of opinions that are easily refutable.”

Litigants and jurors did not hear the whole testimony, though, following the defense's earlier objections.

Long periods of silence marked the moments Sanderson's legal counsel edited out the disputed sections in real time. The defense took issue the first time it happened, telling the judge that they wanted to know "what's going on here," to which Holmberg reminded them that plaintiff's attorney had been ordered to strike portions of the interview on defense's request.

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