Legal

Gwyneth Paltrow did NOT cause her Utah ski accident ... so says the jury in her ski accident case.

The jury deliberated for 2 1/2 hours before reaching its verdict, that Dr. Terry Sanderson caused the accident on the ski slope. The jury awarded her what she sought in her countersuit -- $1.

As we reported, Gwyneth got slapped with a lawsuit back in 2019 by Dr. Terry Sanderson ... who claimed she slammed into him at Deer Valley Resort in 2016. He says he suffered a concussion, broken ribs and brain damage.

Sanderson initially asked for $3.1M, but a judge ruled he could only get a maximum of $300K. Gwyneth filed a countersuit against Terry for one dollar ... claiming he's the one who hit her, not the other way around.

Gwyneth and Terry faced off this month in an 8-day trial. She claimed she initially thought she was the victim of sexual assault when they collided on the mountain, insisting he came up from behind and his skis went in between her legs.

Terry begged to differ, saying he heard a "blood-curdling scream" coming from behind him in the moments leading up to the crash.

Each side painted a very different picture of how the accident impacted their lives  -- during closing arguments, Gwyneth's attorney bizarrely pointed to his client's loss of family bonding time during the ski trip because of the crash.

As for Sanderson, he bizarrely told the jury celebs don't take accountability, invoking the name of Jeffrey Epstein. The judge told the jury to ignore that point.

Donald Trump has been indicted in NYC over his alleged involvement in the Stormy Daniels hush money case -- TMZ has confirmed.

The former President was indicted Thursday by a Manhattan grand jury. He will turn himself in, although we do not know the timetable.

The grand jury heard testimony from a slew of witnesses since January ... witnesses that included Trump's former attorney/fixer, Michael Cohen, who served prison time in connection with the Stormy Daniels case. Trump did not appear before the grand jury.

The precise charges have not been announced by Manhattan D.A. Alvin Bragg, but are expected within the next few days.

Trump is currently in Florida at his Mar-a-Lago estate. Trump will presumably fly to New York City to turn himself in. He has called for protests and the City is on high alert. He has even said there would be "death and destruction" if he were indicted.

It's quite a moment ... Trump is the first U.S. president or former president to be slapped with criminal charges.

Trump allegedly brokered a $130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels during the 2016 election, when she was trying to go public about an affair she claims she had with him in 2006. Michael Cohen has said he was at the center of the deal and actually cut the check to Stormy ... he says he was later reimbursed by the Trump org.

45, of course, has denied all of it ... calling both Stormy and Michael liars. He has acknowledged relying on his counsel to resolve an alleged extortion effort, but he's insisted he did nothing wrong or illegal. And, he's already announced he's running for president next year, so it could throw the race for the Republican nomination into chaos.

This isn't the only criminal investigation he's dealing with. There's one underway in Georgia surrounding the 2020 election and Trump's efforts to overturn the results. And, the feds are looking into Trump's former handling of classified documents ... and based on developments this week, it looks like the special prosecutor has an eye toward filing charges.

Gwyneth Paltrow's closing argument came with a healthy dose of cringe -- with Gwyneth's lawyer spinning the ski accident as a tragedy that unraveled his client's desire for a vacation that would bond her blended family ... but before that, the Dr. suing her made an outrageous comparison between Gwyneth and Jeffrey Epstein.

Let's start with Dr. Terry Sanderson. He went off the rails Wednesday on the stand when he started a rant that the jury needed to send a message -- presumably to celebrities -- that they must be held accountable for their actions, suggesting the kind of thing he's accusing Gwyneth of leads to people like Jeffrey Epstein molesting children on a private island.

Yes, he said that, and the judge ordered the jury to ignore it.

As for closing arguments, Gwyneth's lawyer made the argument the skiing accident was a gut punch to her blended family, where she, Brad Falchuk and their kids were there for a bonding experience and the collision ruined their efforts.

Deliberations are currently underway. Cannot wait to hear what the jury has to say about this.

Flo Rida's son Zohar was rushed to the ICU after falling out of a window 5 stories up, and the kid's mother is taking the building owners to court over it ... TMZ has learned.

According to legal docs, obtained by TMZ, the 6-year-old's mom Alexis Adams filed a lawsuit Monday against various entities she claims are responsible for her son's fall from the Jersey City, NJ building. The defendants include a construction company and a window installation company.

Flo Rida is not a plaintiff in the suit ... and DailyMail reported, back in 2018, that Flo hadn't even met Zohar. The current status of the relationship is unclear.

In docs, Alexis says the incident happened at the beginning of March ... and she claims the defendants' negligence led to Zohar's fall from the 5th-story window to the concrete pavement below, leaving him with serious injuries. The little boy reportedly suffered a lacerated liver, collapsed lungs, fractures to his feet and pelvis, and internal bleeding.

She points the finger specifically at "incorrect sized guards" on the windows, and told News12 New Jersey she was completely heartbroken by what happened, adding ... "This feels like a nightmare."

Alexis is now seeking damages, including money to cover Zohar's medical bills. We've reached out to Flo Rida for comment ... so far, no word back.

Jonathan Majors' attorney says she has receipts regarding the assault claims against her client -- texts in which the alleged victim admits she's to blame, and says she doesn't want the actor prosecuted.

Majors' lawyer Priya Chaudhry tells TMZ ... the woman in question sent a few texts to the "Creed III" actor hours after his arrest last weekend, "admitting that she was the one who used physical force against him."

In the texts Chaudhry claims the woman sent, she says how angry she was Jonathan had been handcuffed ... and she adds, "Will make sure nothing happens about this. I told them it was my fault for trying to grab your phone."

The text exchange continued a few hours later, with the woman reiterating she's pushing hard to make sure the D.A. doesn't charge Jonathan for the incident.

Chaudhry says she has turned these texts over to law enforcement.

As we reported, Majors was arrested for misdemeanor assault, aggravated harassment, attempted assault, and harassment ... after the woman allegedly saw another woman texting him and tried to sneak a peek at his phone.

Chaudhry told us Sunday she was already working hard to gather evidence disproving the claims, which seems to include these texts ... and she believes there is also video footage from inside the vehicle where the alleged incident went down that will clear Majors.

Joshua Tylerbest -- a contestant on Katie Thurston's season of "The Bachelorette," who actually went pretty far -- has been arrested and charged with having child pornography on him ... TMZ has learned.

According to legal docs, obtained by TMZ, the IT consultant was busted last month in Miami -- law enforcement says a Google account registered to him was flagged for allegedly uploading approximately 50 images/videos showing child sexual abuse.

The cops got a search warrant of the Google account and claim they found evidence of Tylerbest interacting with the child pornography images.

Law enforcement says they then searched his residence and seized several electronic items, including his iPhone -- which they claim contained 15 files that fit the bill for child porn. Cops claim the clips include videos of kids -- some of whom are under 10 -- involved in graphic sex acts with adults.

He's now been formally charged with 15 felony counts of possession of materials showing a sexual performance by a child ... to which he has pled not guilty. Tylerbest is due back in court in June.

Like we said earlier, Tylerbest had a little bit of a run during Katie's time as the 'Bachelorette' in 2021. He made it through four weeks but was eliminated after that. There was nothing particularly scandalous about his time on TV and, at the time, he was relatively well-regarded.

He's continued to fraternize with fellow 'Bachelorette' stars, as documented on his social media -- he's hit the town with other contestants who were on the show.

Marquise "Hollywood" Brown has finally put his speeding case in the rearview mirror ... TMZ Sports has learned he was sentenced in an Arizona courtroom on Wednesday.

A judge ordered the NFL star to pay a fine of $473 -- after he pled guilty in February to a misdemeanor charge of excessive speed stemming from an August 2022 arrest.

But, Brown won't have to dole out a cent in the case ... the judge decided to waive the fine and just give him credit for time served.

Brown, wearing a letterman jacket and dark-colored pants, said very little during the hearing, only telling the judge, "This is my first time ever getting into anything."

During the proceedings, Brown's attorney argued the 25-year-old should be allowed to complete a defensive driving school program to get the case off his record ... though the judge did not allow that. She did say, though, the lawyer could file a motion following the hearing, and it would be further considered.

As we reported, Brown was initially arrested in the case on Aug. 3, 2022 ... after cops say they caught him going 126 MPH in a 65 MPH zone in a 2020 Mercedes on a highway in Maricopa County.

Brown was hit with two charges in the case -- exceeding posted speed and violating HOV lane rules -- though as part of his sentencing, the second charge was dismissed.

Raquel Leviss' court-ordered protection from fellow "Vanderpump Rules" star Scheana Shay is officially no more ... the temporary restraining order's been officially dismissed.

Raquel was a no-show for court Wednesday for a hearing on the matter, so the judge made the decision to drop it. Scheana was there, ready to tell her side of the story, but it wasn't necessary given the fact Raquel didn't attend.

As we reported, Raquel announced at the "VPR" reunion she wasn't going to move forward with the restraining order -- even presenting dismissal docs -- Wednesday's court hearing made it official.

The dismissal closes the book on one aspect of the "Scandoval" affair. As we first told you, Raquel got a TRO three weeks ago ... claiming Scheana attacked her as soon as she found out Tom Sandoval was cheating on Ariana Madix with Raquel.

Scheana's camp has maintained she never really attacked Raquel in New York City, as Raquel alleges ... they say RL was simply hamming it up for the cameras during the reunion show taping.

The TRO also complicated the reunion  ... Raquel and Scheana were separated during last week's taping, with each reality star in her own trailer while the other was on set.

Meanwhile, Tom says he regrets cheating on Ariana ... but he's still with Raquel and they look very much like a couple.

Jamirah Shutes -- the Univ. of Memphis women's basketball player who was hit with a criminal charge last week after socking an opponent in the face following a game -- pled not guilty in the case on Wednesday, TMZ Sports has learned.

Shutes' attorney, Steven Crossmock, appeared in court in Ohio on the Tigers player's behalf to submit the plea. He did not immediately have a comment on the case following the proceedings.

She's now tentatively due back in court for another hearing in the case next month.

As we reported, Shutes was charged with assault on Friday ... one day after she punched Bowling Green State Univ. star Elissa Brett in the handshake line following their round of 16 game in the women's NIT.

Brett suffered swelling in her right eye as a result of the punch, according to cops, but she was able to play in BGSU's win over Florida on Monday.

It's still unclear what prompted the strike.

Former NY Yankees star John Wetteland -- months after a jury failed to reach a verdict during trial -- is now free and clear after prosecutors moved to drop all felony aggravated sexual assault charges against the former All-Star closer.

According to court records obtained by TMZ Sports, all three charges were dropped against 56-year-old Wetteland after the D.A. failed to retry the 1996 World Series hero who was accused of forcing a four-year-old child, a relative, to perform sexual acts on him between in his bedroom between 2004 and 2006.

Wetteland always adamantly denied the allegations and pled not guilty at trial.

As we previously reported, Wetteland was arrested in January 2019 and hit with multiple child sexual abuse charges. He was facing 25 years to life in prison if convicted. JW finally went to trial in late 2022, but a jury of 12 couldn't reach a verdict -- guilty or not -- and a judge declared a mistrial on September 2.

Following the hung jury, a juror told local media they were split 10-2, and although the juror didn't explicitly say the 10 votes were "not guilty," the juror indicated most wanted to acquit.

Of course, MLB fans are familiar with the 3x All-Star closer. Back in 1996, when the Yankees came back from two games down against the Atlanta Braves, Wetteland was named the World Series Most Valuable Player.

Due to the rise of young relief pitcher, Mariano Rivera, Wetteland went to the Texas Rangers in 1997 ... and stayed in Arlington until retiring after the 2000 season.

He was inducted into the Rangers Hall of Fame in 2005.

Despite being arrested and charged, Wetteland was never found guilty.

Eva Marcille is throwing in the towel on her marriage with Michael Sterling ... 'cause she wants a divorce.

The 'Real Housewives of Atlanta' star just filed docs in Georgia, obtained by TMZ, asking the judge to officially end her marriage. She also makes clear that she and Michael are currently separated.

In the paperwork, Eva doesn't cite or specify any given reason for the divorce -- other than to say the marriage is irretrievably broken and there's no chance of reconciliation, which is essentially irreconcilable differences. She does, however, lay out what she'd like to see when it comes to their three minor children, who are all younger than 10 years old ... EM is asking for legal and primary physical custody.

Eva says she should be the parent who has the final say on all decisions related to their kids, as she feels she's the fit and proper caregiver.

Another thing she wants from Mike going forward ... child support. Eva says he oughta contribute toward the kids' medical, dental, and hospitalization expenses.

When it comes to assets, Eva says she wants an equitable split of everything they've acquired in the marriage and any debts they've racked up.

Adnan Syed, the man whose murder conviction was overturned after 23 years behind bars, is heading back to court -- his conviction's been reinstated, but it doesn't necessarily mean he's going back to prison.

Here's the deal ... the family of Syed's victim, Hae Min Lee, successfully appealed the overturning of his conviction -- a decision prosecutors in Maryland made last year, but the family said they were completely blindsided by his release.

On Tuesday, a Maryland appeals court reinstated Syed's murder conviction, and now a new hearing will take place ... where new DNA evidence supporting his claim of innocence could be presented.

As we reported, the family of Hae Min -- who was murdered in 1999 -- didn't think the new evidence was enough to release Syed, and they were upset it was never presented during trial.

Bottom line: They want their day in court, because they still believe Syed -- whose case was heavily publicized on the "Serial" podcast -- is responsible for Hae Min's murder.

The appeals court move will, at least, give them that -- with the conviction reinstated, the evidentiary hearing will ultimately determine whether Syed remains free or returns to prison.

BTW -- Baltimore State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby told us back in September her team tried many ways to notify the Lee family about Syed's release, insisting they wouldn't have dug deeper on the DNA evidence without first contacting them.

You'll recall, Syed filed multiple appeals while behind bars, but was constantly rejected. The popularity of "Serial" in 2014 brought his case national attention ... and made many listeners question his guilt.

Brittney Taylor of "Love & Hip Hop: New York" fame has been arrested ... after allegedly assaulting her kids' father with a baseball bat ... TMZ has learned.

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ ... Brittney got into a physical altercation earlier this month with Afeez, father of her 2-year-old and 8-month-old. She turned herself in last week after a warrant was issued for her arrest.

A source familiar tells us the alleged beating came after Afeez flew to NY to see his kids, although he'd been keeping his distance due to some bad blood between him and Brittney.

As he and his mom were leaving the apartment with the kids, Brittney allegedly said something to him which he ignored, and we're told that set her off.

According to the criminal complaint, obtained by TMZ, Afeez told cops Brittney then punched him in the face while his kids were present.  Afeez then left the residence, but cops say Brittney followed him out with the bat, hitting him and leaving him with a laceration and significant facial bleeding.

Docs say Afeez ended up going to the hospital, getting stitches for a cut above his eye. She's now been charged with two counts of assault, one count of endangering the welfare of a child, and one count of criminal possession of a weapon.

Afeez recently made some claims on social media about getting assaulted, which got fans wondering if Brittney was involved. It sounds like this incident may be what he was referring to in the posts.

Dana White, fans, fighters ... just about everyone was shocked MMA judge Joel Ojeda scored Marlon Vera, despite being thoroughly beaten, the winner over Cory Sandhagen, and now UFC star Gilbert Burns tells us law enforcement should investigate.

"I think this judge needs to be investigated," Gilbert told TMZ Sports, adding, "We need the FBI on this judge. Those judge might be working with the betting company."

If you missed it, 30-year-old Sandhagen (ranked 5th before the fight) and 30-year-old Vera (ranked 3rd) fought in the main event at UFC Fight Night on Saturday night in San Antonio ... a 5-round scrap that went to the judge's scorecards.

After the fight, both men stood at the center of the Octagon, as Bruce Buffer announced a "split decision" ... and, cue the head-scratching.

Judge Sal D'Amato scored the fight 50-45 for Cory (5 rounds to none), while Chris Lee scored it 49-46 (4 rounds to 1 for Sandhagen). But, Ojeda, was seemingly watching another fight ... scoring the bout 48-47 for Chito (3 rounds to 2).

D'Amato and Lee have loads of experience, while Ojeda has worked only a handful of UFC fights (4).

Now, Chito is one of the baddest dudes in the world, but Saturday just wasn't his night ... by just about every metric.

"Chito's my guy and I want him to win, but, theres no way he won that fight," Burns said. "It's clear to anyone. What's wrong with that judge?"

Further proof ... according to the UFC's official stats, Chito landed 73 strikes to Cory's 187. Sandhagen was also credited with 3 takedowns, resulting in over 7 minutes of control time. Vera attempted 1 takedown but was unsuccessful.

Even Dana was floored.

“I was literally coming out of the bathroom and I was like, ‘What the f**k?’”

The UFC honcho continued ... "It could have been 5-0, it could have been [4 rounds to 1], but [split decision]? Wow, that’s pretty scary.”

We reached out to the Texas Dept. of Licensing & Regulation, who oversee judges in the state, and they told us "TDLR is aware of the concerns about the scoring in one of Saturday's UFC fights. All TDLR officials receive ongoing training and we monitor each fight for consistency and accuracy in scoring."

When we followed up, questioning whether the judge was being investigated, TDLR said they couldn't comment on individual judges, but added they review performance after each event.

We also talked to Gilbert about his upcoming UFC 287 co-main fight with rival Jorge Masvidal ... a fight he says he's gunning to win by knockout our finish 'cause -- can't trust the scoring!

Maino is rejecting any notion Troy Ave's hands are clean following Taxstone's guilty verdict for manslaughter.

In fact, he's in total defense of the podcaster and says Troy is simply moonlighting as the victim!!!

The "Hi Hater" rapper made his return to "Way Up With Angela Yee" on Monday ... painting Troy Ave and his crew as the aggressors during the deadly night of May 26, 2016.

Maino says he and Uncle Murda were inside Irving Plaza and scheduled to perform when he witnessed the scene unfold.

According to Maino, Tax was simply chilling inside the venue and enjoying the T.I. concert when trouble confronted him, and the tables were turned.

Following the trial, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg, Jr. slammed Tax for "killing a man and shooting 3 others" ... with the deceased being Troy's bodyguard Ronald “Banga” McPhatter.

Troy's been going on the rampage with multiple diss tracks, and even took the stand in the case -- but Maino's calling BS and says Troy finagled a deal with prosecutors to erase his own gun possession charge from the altercation.

Maino says Troy thought he was going to get a "WorldStar moment" by messing with Tax, and doesn't think Troy should be dropping diss tracks bragging about his enemy's conviction.

Gwyneth Paltrow was flying down a Deer Valley ski slope, screaming and so out of control, it sounded like someone who was about to careen into a tree and die ... so says the skier who is suing the actress.

Dr. Terry Sanderson laid it all out Monday, testifying he was skiing down the Utah mountain and coming around a curve when he heard something he's never heard before on the slopes -- a "blood-curdling scream" coming from behind him.

Terry faintly recreates what he heard, telling the jury he never saw it coming, but he sure felt it. He says after hearing the scream there was a boom, and he felt the thunderous impact of fists and poles connecting with his back. He says all he remembers is flying in the air.

Gwyneth wasn't buying it ... shaking her head and looking incredulous as Sanderson testified.

Gwyneth insists Terry got it backward ... she says he's the one that crashed into her. She told her side last week, claiming to have initially thought she was being sexually assaulted when it went down.