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Gwyneth Paltrow's high-profile US trial helped "humanize celebrities" for jurors, the case's foreman has said. Last week, the Oscar-winning actress won the civil lawsuit, brought by retired optometrist Terry Sanderson, over a 2016 skiing accident. Ms Paltrow has been cleared of wrongdoing over the incident at the Deer Valley resort in Utah, which left Mr Sanderson with multiple broken ribs and head injuries.
Jurors deliberated for just over two hours before returning a verdict in his favor and awarding him a $1 award.
Speaking to Court TV, jury foreman Don said he enjoyed listening to the actress talk about her childhood experiences skiing with her father.
"(The trial) was great to see how it works because, you know, you watch Law & Order and you see this other stuff and it's so scripted and it's so perfect and obviously that's not the way this trial happened," he said. saying.
"The whole celebrity experience made me a little bit more human because (Ms. Paltrow) told the story of going skiing with her dad - that's what the mountains are for all of us who love to ski and snowboard and do what what do we do".
Don said he focused on the body language of Paltrow and Sanderson as they testified.
He told Court TV that Ms Paltrow's recollection of the incident, in which she said she briefly wondered if she had been assaulted, showed a "genuine human reaction".
"I hope she never had negative things like that, but it will be a reaction that a real person would have," he said.
The whole celebrity experience humanized a little more for me.
“It just humanized her a little bit more for me because…if I ever fell victim to something like that, that might be a reaction that people would have.
"So that seemed like a legitimate thing that you could think about for half a second (and)...again, that made it more real to me that that was his first reaction."
Don also said that he was not convinced by Mr. Sanderson's testimony, noting that he seemed to 'enjoy' being praised and complimented.
He said "little things" helped inform his decision, including Sanderson's lawyers' discussion of how much money they could make from the case.
"You can't say 'the first thing we talked about was how much money we're potentially making' and then tell us all the time it's not about the money," he said. .
"It's like, of course, it's about the money guys, we're not here for Habitat for Humanity."
Don told Court TV that he ultimately did "what I think is right" in deciding the verdict.
"You arbitrarily apply the laws to different people in different ways... (but) I said, 'I have to go home and sleep with myself at night,'" he said.
"So I'm going to do what I think is right in my heart... but I want to be fair to everyone." All we want in life is justice.
Paltrow said she was "satisfied with the outcome" of the trial after it concluded Thursday after two weeks of testing in Utah.
In a statement posted to her Instagram Story, she said she felt "accepting a false claim compromised my integrity" and thanked the jurors for their "care" in handling the case.
Pennsylvania
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