Gwyneth Paltrow Is Questioned About Friendship with Taylor Swift and 'Symbolic' $1 Countersuit at Trial
Gwyneth Paltrow answered about Taylor Swift under oath, "I would not say we are 'good friends.' We are friendly. I've taken my kids to one of her concerts before, but we don't talk very often"
Gwyneth Paltrow was questioned on the stand whether her "symbolic" request for $1 in damages is related to her friendship with Taylor Swift and the musician's 2017 groping trial.
On Friday, day four of the Park City, Utah, civil trial regarding a Feb. 26, 2016 skiing accident at Utah's Deer Valley Resort, the Oscar winner, 50, testified, and the plaintiff's attorney Kristin VanOrman asked Paltrow about the single dollar in damages she is asking for if the jury rules in her favor.
"It's an actual dollar that I'm asking for," Paltrow told the court, adding that the amount is "symbolic because the damages would actually be more," when VanOrman asked about previous statements she made about the symbolic nature of the request.
"Remember me asking you, is it symbolic and you said yes it is, and I asked you as well, well you learned about that through Taylor Swift, because she asked for $1 in symbolic damages, right?" the attorney asked, to which Paltrow replied, "I think I said at that point that I had not been familiar with it but I since am."
Paltrow's attorneys objected to the relevance of VanOrman's point as she asked again whether the actress was familiar with the details of Swift's August 2017 countersuit, in which a Denver jury ruled that former radio host David Mueller assaulted and battered Swift, now 33, at a meet-and-greet photo session at the Pepsi Center in June 2013. Swift was awarded $1.
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"I was not aware at the time," Paltrow said of the musican's lawsuit, leading VanOrman to ask if she is "good friends" with Swift.
"I would not say we are 'good friends,' " Paltrow said under oath. "We are friendly. I've taken my kids to one of her concerts before, but we don't talk very often."
As VanOrman asked whether it is "totally accurate" to only describe Paltrow's ask as $1 — the actress' countersuit also asks for her attorney's legal fees to be paid — the actress responded, "So I'm asking for a dollar for me and then reimbursement of attorneys' fees, which is a separate thing."
"I took it as I would receive that $1, which is all I am asking for," she added, after VanOrman referenced a moment during opening arguments on Tuesday, March 21, in which Paltrow's attorney Stephen Owens showed the jury a dollar bill.
Both parties in the civil suit agree the collision between Paltrow and retired doctor Terry Sanderson in question happened, but they have conflicting points of view on who crashed into whom. Paltrow agreed Friday that she did not inquire about Sanderson's condition after she said she was told by the ski instructor he'd handle the situation and left to meet her kids.
The trial — which is also supposed to hear testimony from Paltrow's husband Brad Falchuk and her kids Apple, 18, and Moses, 16, who were there the day of the incident — began on Tuesday. Sanderson, who claims to have sustained broken ribs and permanent brain damage from the accident, is seeking $300,000 damages after first bringing a lawsuit back in 2019.
When it came time for her lawyers to ask her questions, Paltrow said she feels "very sorry" for Sanderson. "It seems like he's had a very difficult life. But I did not cause the accident, so I cannot be at fault for anything that subsequently happened to him."
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