The doctor who lost a Utah ski crash lawsuit against Gwyneth Paltrow could owe her as much as $1 million in legal fees after a jury found him at fault for the accident, experts said Friday.
The “Iron Man” star hired top-notch lawyers and spent years litigating the case before a jury ruled Thursday that Dr. Terry Sanderson must pay for her legal costs, according to attorneys familiar with the lawsuit.
“This case has been going on for four or five years and has been very heavily litigated and then goes through an eight-day jury trial — her fees are going to be in the $800,000 to a million range,” Salt Lake City-based personal injury lawyer David Cutt told The Post.
The 50-year-old celebrity likely spared no expenses in the court battle, said Georgia personal injury lawyer Ted Spaulding.
Partners at firms could charge $400 an hour and even as much as $600 or $700 an hour, Spaulding said.
“She can obviously afford that. She probably got the best she could get and she probably litigated the heck out of it,” said Spalding, who had a more conservative estimate of Paltrow’s legal fees, pegging it at under $500,000.
Sanderson, 76, sued the actress for $300,000 claiming she was liable for a 2016 crash that left him with physical damage and “serious brain injuries.”
Paltrow countersued for just $1 plus her legal fees, and won in a unanimous ruling Thursday.
The star’s lawyers now need to submit a detailed log of “every task” with “minutes or hours attached to it” before a judge decides on the amount Sanderson owes, which could take months, the lawyers said.
Sanderson’s side will likely argue that Paltrow’s legal fees are unreasonable and should be reduced, according to the experts.
The retired optometrist’s homeowners coverage will likely pay some of the legal fees he owes, up to a limit, Cutt said.
“The judgment against him is almost certainly going to exceed that. So unless he has a million dollars in homeowners insurance There might be a substantial amount of this judgment left that will be his personal responsibility,” he said.
During the trial, Paltrow enlisted Utah attorney Stephen Owens, president of the upscale firm Epperson & Owens to head her legal team. He is former president of the Utah State Bar and served as a clerk for Utah Supreme Court Justice Richard Howe.
Sanderson had sued the actress in 2019 seeking $3.1 million in damages over the crash at the exclusive Deer Valley Ski resort, but a judge determined he was only eligible for $300,000 if he had won.
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