The daughter of a man involved in a ski crash with actress Gwyneth Paltrow has said she realised something was “terribly wrong” with him afterwards.
Polly Sanderson-Grasham told a court her father Terry was “outgoing and engaged” before the collision in 2016.
But since then, he gets “agitated” and is “easily frustrated”, she told the third day of a civil trial in Utah.
His lawyers claim Ms Paltrow caused a brain injury, but she argues that Mr Sanderson is at fault for the crash.
The Oscar winner and lifestyle influencer has countersued. Her lawyers say she was not to blame and have pointed to his previous medical conditions and behaviour to argue that the crash did not cause a significant change.
Speaking about her father, Ms Sanderson-Grasham, 49, said she “didn’t have memories of him being an angry person, but he’s got a pretty short fuse these days”.
She added: “He’s just a little more cautious, not as confident and I think he’s in a really negative place,” she added. “And that’s hard for me as his daughter.”
Ms Sanderson-Grasham also described an occasion at an event after the accident when she really noticed a change. “He was sitting in a chair by the window and I almost expected drool to be coming out of his mouth,” she said.
“First of all, he wasn’t engaged with anybody. He had kind of taken himself to a remote corner and that was my first real kind of slap in the face of like, something’s terribly wrong.”
However, under cross-examination she accepted that before the accident, her dad was on occasion “frequently frustrated” and “overstepping the boundaries”.
Mr Sanderson, 76, says he lost consciousness, suffering a concussion and four fractured ribs in the crash at Deer Valley in Utah. He is seeking damages of $300,000 (£244,000).
‘Mood and personality changes’
A doctor who treated Mr Sanderson also gave evidence on Thursday, saying he sustained a traumatic brain injury, which “completely changed his life”.
Neuropsychologist Dr Alina Fong first saw Mr Sanderson in May 2017, and said he had been “struggling with concussion symptoms for a year and a half” by that point.
She claimed Mr Sanderson reported a “myriad of symptoms”, including “mood and personality changes, pain as well as headaches”.
“According to Terry’s report, these were quite significantly affecting his life,” she said. “It was affecting his personal life, his family, relationships, his friendships, his ability to have self confidence. He was further isolating.
“It affected him on so many levels, especially for someone that was used to loving life and enjoying life and travelling and all that. By the time he came to me, that was pretty much gone.”
Asked whether there was any indication he was faking symptoms, Dr Fong said there were “none whatsoever”.
The incident occurred on the beginners’ slope at the Deer Valley resort, where Ms Paltrow was skiing with her family.
Mr Sanderson’s lawyers say she was uphill on the slope and crashed into his back, with his injuries providing evidence of this.
Her legal team have argued differently, saying she had begun descending when a pair of skis suddenly appeared between her legs and a man collided into her back.
They say vision and hearing loss from a stroke Mr Sanderson had previously suffered meant he may not have seen the actress before the collision.
Ms Paltrow is seeking $1 in damages plus attorney’s fees. She is expected to give evidence on Friday.
Source – BBC News
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