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Doctors Expected to Testify in Gwyneth Paltrow’s Ski Trial

Actor Gwyneth Paltrow looks on as she sits in the courtroom on Tuesday, March 21, 2023, in Park City, Utah. (AP)
Actor Gwyneth Paltrow looks on as she sits in the courtroom on Tuesday, March 21, 2023, in Park City, Utah. (AP)
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Doctors Expected to Testify in Gwyneth Paltrow’s Ski Trial

Actor Gwyneth Paltrow looks on as she sits in the courtroom on Tuesday, March 21, 2023, in Park City, Utah. (AP)
Actor Gwyneth Paltrow looks on as she sits in the courtroom on Tuesday, March 21, 2023, in Park City, Utah. (AP)

More witnesses are expected to testify on Wednesday in a trial about a 2016 ski crash between Gwyneth Paltrow and the retired Utah man suing her and claiming her recklessness left him with lasting injuries and brain damage.

On the opening day of the trial, Paltrow and retired optometrist Terry Sanderson appeared across the courtroom from each other, looking nonplussed to hear arguments that have become familiar over the past seven years of legal proceedings.

Since Paltrow and Sanderson’s skis intertwined on what they expected to be an enjoyable day on the slopes with friends and family, the two have been tangled in a lengthy legal drama about what really happened on a beginner’s run that day at one of the most upscale ski destinations in the United States.

The mountain, Deer Valley Resort, has among the region’s most expensive lift tickets and is known for its après-ski champagne yurts and proximity to Park City — a posh resort town known for hosting the Sundance Film Festival.

Though the court is not publishing a witness list, attorneys said Wendell Gibby and Sam Goldstein — a radiologist and neuropsychologist — would likely be called to testify on Wednesday. Sanderson’s lawyers said they expected to call four witnesses total on Wednesday and left the possibility open that one could be Paltrow, depending on when others expected to testify arrive in Park City.

Gibby and Goldstein have previously appeared as expert witnesses for Sanderson, who has said he broke ribs and sustained brain damage from the crash. Thus far, attorneys have argued over whether Sanderson’s medical problems stemmed from the crash or were merely a byproduct of aging.

Both parties blame the other for the collision and claim they were crashed into from behind, relying on a little-known Utah law stipulating that whoever is downhill has the right of way when skiing and snowboarding.

Paltrow's attorney have asked Judge Kent Holmberg to enact special restrictions throughout the actor-turned-wellness tycoon's trial, while she has used a blue notebook to shield her face from view when entering and exiting the courtroom.

They called Sanderson's story “utter B.S.” building off earlier claims from court filings and previous depositions where they accused him of suing to exploit the Oscar-winning star of “Shakespeare in Love's” wealth and celebrity.

Sanderson's attorneys have thus far attempted to paint her as a negligent celebrity with little care for the injuries inflicted upon the 76-year-old military veteran.

They called Sanderson's ex-girlfriend and a ski companion who was nearby during the crash to testify on Tuesday. Karlene Davidson said the crash had “changed” Sanderson and contributed to the demise of their romance.

Craig Ramon testified that Paltrow hit Sanderson and said that afterward, one of her family's ski instructors came up to him and said: “Your buddy just took out Gwyneth Paltrow.”

The trial underway in Park City is the latest development in the seven-year case and follows Sanderson's decision to amend an earlier lawsuit after a $3.1 million complaint that named Paltrow and Deer Valley was dismissed.

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Avicii Documentary Director on Celebrating the Late, ‘Timeless’ DJ without Exploiting His Death

Avicii poses for a portrait in New York, Monday, Jan. 23, 2012. (AP)
Avicii poses for a portrait in New York, Monday, Jan. 23, 2012. (AP)
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Avicii Documentary Director on Celebrating the Late, ‘Timeless’ DJ without Exploiting His Death

Avicii poses for a portrait in New York, Monday, Jan. 23, 2012. (AP)
Avicii poses for a portrait in New York, Monday, Jan. 23, 2012. (AP)

Avicii, the groundbreaking Swedish DJ-producer, died six years ago. He was 28. It was a tragedy that reverberated around the world — much like his music, which brought unexpected genres and collaborators into his melodic EDM through forward-thinking, chart-topping hits like “Wake Me Up!” and “Hey Brother.”

On Dec. 31, two new movies, a short concert film captured at what became his final performance, “Avicii — My Last Show,” and a full-length documentary, “Avicii — I’m Tim," will premiere on Netflix. They work to celebrate the artist born Tim Bergling, capturing his early life, the songs that made him an idiosyncratic talent, his insatiable curiosity and hunger for reinvention, and the people he left behind.

Miraculously, Bergling himself narrates a lot of the film — pulled from archival interviews and some never before published.

Capturing Avicii's life and career was no easy feat, director Henrik Burman told The Associated Press. The project took half-a-decade, beginning before the pandemic and only about a year-and-half after Bergling's death. Burman's interviews were long and many. “To know people around Tim,” he says, was the only way “to know Tim.”

Burman discussed Avicii's life, career and legacy with The Associated Press. This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.

AP: How did you approach this project?

BURMAN: I would say from the beginning, the first thing I knew I wanted to do was find my story... the story that I wanted to tell about Tim. But the most important (aspect) was time. I wanted this to be a project with no time limits... I wanted it to be a slow process. And I wanted to have a lot of time for research. And the people close to Tim, I didn't want to force them into anything. I didn't want to push it. I wanted them to see and learn what I wanted to tell, you know, my story and my vision.

AP: The structure is compelling; it really focuses on Avicii's life and his biggest songs that shifted genre — you avoid casting his career as “it was the 2010s and EDM was massive.” There's a lot of research.

BURMAN: I had access to a lot of material... I was looking for clues all the time... I’ve watched so, so many hours of, you know, interviews with Tim just to see, “OK, he says this again. And it was like the eighth time that year. OK. That should be important.” ... It was kind of a puzzle and yeah, it was huge research work.

Sometimes, in the material that I had ... he was like, “If there’s a documentary, ever, about me, this should be in it.” ... There’s a story in the film, in the beginning, from (when) he is a kid. He tells a story to the interviewer. And he says, “When I was a kid, I wasn’t like a really nice person. For a few years, I was kind of bullying people. And I was around 6 or 7. And after a while I realized that people didn’t like me, so after a summer, I was thinking about this, and I decided, ‘I need to change... and see what happens.’ And then people liked me again.” And when he told that story, he was like, “That’s a really important story. That’s a story that needs to be in a documentary, if it’s ever a documentary about me, because that says so much about me as a person.”

I was trying to find clues and stories and listen and... early on, I was quite sure that I wanted to tell the story from Miami Ultra (Music Festival) and what happened there. That was kind of a key moment for me, and that was a huge key moment for Tim. But when I realized that this... needs to be the center of my story, at the midpoint for my story, I realized that I had something to hold on to.

AP: The childhood story reflects his interest in creative transformation, too. How do you aim to capture his spirit and not center his death?

BURMAN: That is hard. I have from the beginning... tried to explain my vision for this film... But I reached out to a lot of friends, and of course his family, and I got their blessing. When I got this kind of group of people that said “yes” to being in the film that I could start to ask more questions and have deeper conversations. But again, we needed time... I wanted to work gently, that was very important.

AP: And you have footage of Tim in the womb! It is very different than what could've very easily been an exploitative version of the film.

BURMAN: I wanted to make an intimate and personal story and not speculate... to find the right tone, you need time. And since we started work... one, one-and-a-half years after Tim passed, I just knew that we needed time. And, of course, people around Tim needed a lot of time.

AP: What is Avicii's legacy?

BURMAN: You can answer that question in so many ways. But if you’re talking about the music, and the music that he produced and wrote, he was so much ahead of his time, I would say. And you can hear the legacy of Avicii in the music today. You can hear it in the production in new music and hits from today. If you listen to the music — go back and listen to the music now that he released like 10 years ago, it sounds so fresh, modern, and I would say timeless.

AP: What do you hope viewers take away from this film?

BURMAN: Someone said to me that the film is so much about Tim, but at the same time, it’s so kind of universal. And I thought that was beautiful because life is not simple. There are no easy answers. And everything is complex and multilayered. So, that’s what I aim to contribute to Tim's story. And I also really hope that even the most hardcore fans get a new, fresh perspective of Tim as a person and Avicii as an artist.