Terry Sanderson was not exaggerating when he wrote the infamous email to his three daughters.

'I'm famous!' he said, writing on February 29, 2016.

Three days earlier he had collided with Oscar-winning actress Gwyneth Paltrow on the ski slopes.

The collision had been bruising - both were left shaken and sore.

But Sanderson's words would come back to haunt him - and on Thursday night the 76-year-old finds himself far more famous than he ever imagined, with his private life thrown out into the open, and facing potential financial ruin.

On Thursday a jury in the upmarket Utah ski town of Park City found that Paltrow was not guilty of causing the crash.

Sanderson had hoped when he launched the suit in 2019 to win a $3.1 million settlement; at trial, that amount was reduced to $300,000.

Paltrow sought a symbolic $1 - but, crucially, she requested payment of her legal fees, which could stretch into hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Paltrow's legal team was headed by Stephen Owens, a former president of the Utah State Bar who served as a clerk for Justice Richard Howe of the Utah Supreme Court.