It’s 2016. We’re at Deer Valley Ski Resort in Utah,
and this is Oscar-winning actor Gwyneth Paltrow. She’s skiing down the mountain with her family,
when all of a sudden she’s whacked from behind by 76-year-old retired optometrist Terry Sanderson.
Two skis came between my skis, forcing my legs apart, and then there was a body
pressing against and then there was a very strange grunting noise. They fall in a heap,
Sanderson says he’s okay, and Paltrow takes the afternoon off. End of story.
Terry did you cause the ski collision with Ms. Paltrow?
Absolutely not.
Right, back to the start.
Still 2016, still in Utah. But this time Sanderson is skiing down the slope,
when Oscar-winning actor Gwyneth Paltrow comes hurtling towards him.
I heard something I’ve never heard at a ski resort,
and that was a blood-curdling scream ‘ahhh’ and then boom!
Paltrow crashes into Sanderson, knocking him out, breaking his ribs,
and leaving him with brain damage. These are two very different stories of the same incident,
and it’s up to a jury of 8 in a civil court in Utah to work out who’s telling the truth.
If you’ve never been skiing, well, there’s a snow code you should know about.
Whoever’s downhill on the slope generally has the right of way,
so a lot of this trial hinges on who was actually downhill. If the crash was Paltrow's fault,
well then she'll owe almost $450,000 dollars to Sanderson to pay for medical bills and
damages caused by the crash. If it was Sanderson's fault, Paltrow is asking for a symbolic $1 and her
legal fees to be paid for. It seems like a pretty simple and mundane task for this court to decide,
but its disputes like this one that the civil court is here to resolve.
You see in most countries around the world there’s civil courts and criminal courts,
and they two differ in plenty of ways. The actual nitty gritty’s change from country to country,
so let’s focus on Australia’s courts. Criminal courts deal with, well crime, assault, murder,
robbery, arson. When a person is arrested they go to criminal court. Civil courts refers to almost
all other disputes and it’s to do with peoples’ and companies rights and responsibilities to each
other. A patient could sue a doctor for botching a surgery, a company might sue a contractor
for well, breaking a contract. You could sue for defamation like Johnny Depp did to Amber
Heard or you could take your landlord to court to settle disputes with your property. Civil courts
are focussed on putting the victim, known as the plaintiff, back into the same position they were
in before the damage that was caused by well, whatever's happened. So, usually this comes
in the form of money or compensation, but you could also seek an injunction, which is basically
a court order to stop doing something. In 2021, these teenagers sought an injunction against the
Australian government to stop the development of a coal mine. In the case of criminal law,
he intention is to deter or punish the offender, so the result is usually jail time or a fine.
In the Paltrow-Sanderson trial they spent a lot of time hearing
from the two of them to try and work out exactly what happened.
It was like somebody was out of control and was going to hit a tree and was going to die.
I lost half a day of skiing.
Have you ever seen a GoPro video of this accident?
Absolutely not, no. I would’ve loved to have it.
Are you good friends with Taylor Swift?
No.
This doesn’t always happen.
See, civil courts usually just require written statements called
affidavits from both sides of the case. If witnesses do speak in court, well then they can do
that with their affidavit in front of them to get the details right. In criminal cases, they still
give written statements, but the offender on trial isn't actually required to speak or give evidence.
If they do, they have to do it without the help of their previously written statement. Civil court is
essentially a one-on-one battle, so both sides of the story are super important. In order to win a
case a judge or in some cases a jury, simply has to believe that it’s more likely than not that
your story is what actually happened. Something called 'on the balance of probabilities'.
Right, you've made it this far, so I guess you want a resolution to this story.
Was Gwyneth Paltrow at fault?
Well a jury of 8 decided that this skiing accident was not Gwyneth Paltrow's fault.
Was Terry Sanderson at fault?
Yes.
So while retired optometrist Terry Sanderson loses $1 and legal fees,
you guys gain knowledge of the legal system. Sorry that was a really cheesy
way to finish this story but, truly, I hope you learned something.