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Taylor Swift has won long-awaited vindication after a jury decided that a radio host groped her during a pre-concert photo opportunity four years ago.
Key points:
- Jury finds that DJ David Mueller assaulted Taylor Swift at a meet-and-greet
- The judge told Mueller he failed to prove the singer tried to get him fired
- Swift countersued for $1 to "stand up for other women"
After a weeklong trial over duelling lawsuits, jurors have determined that fired Denver DJ David Mueller assaulted the pop star by grabbing her backside during a backstage meet-and-greet.
The six-woman, two-man jury also found that Swift's mother and radio liaison were within their rights to contact Mueller's bosses.
Mueller sued the Swifts and their radio handler, Frank Bell, seeking up to $US3 million for his ruined career.
Just before closing arguments, the judge dismissed Taylor Swift from Mueller's lawsuit, saying he had failed to prove that she sought to get Mueller fired or had any reason to believe that someone else may have assaulted her.
US District Judge William Martinez also drastically reduced the amount Mueller could collect.
The singer-songwriter said in her countersuit that she wanted a symbolic $US1 and the chance to stand up for other women.
Photo:
Office workers across from the court house celebrated Swift's victory. (AP: David Zalubowski)
'It was a definite grab'
Testimony showed that Swift reported the incident to her mother and others on her team, but that she never sought any specific action regarding Mueller.
From the start, Swift's side portrayed the encounter as a clear case of sexual assault, even though they never reported it to police.
Her mother tearfully testified that she asked Bell to reach out to Mueller's employers at country station KYGO-FM instead because they wanted to handle the matter quietly and avoid exposing the singer-songwriter to publicity.
Bell contacted a station vice-president and asked for an investigation of Mueller's conduct.
He also sent the station executive a photo taken of Swift, Mueller and Mueller's then-girlfriend at the meet-and-greet.
In a fiery hour-long stint on the witness stand last week, Swift blasted a low-key characterisation by Mueller's attorney, Gabriel McFarland, of what happened.
While Mueller testified he never grabbed Swift, she insisted she was groped.
"He stayed attached to my bare ass-cheek as I lurched away from him," Swift testified.
"It was a definite grab. A very long grab."
Singer's family 'wanted to keep matter private'
Mueller emphatically denied reaching under the pop star's skirt or otherwise touching her inappropriately, insisting he touched only her ribs and may have brushed the outside of her skirt as they awkwardly posed for the picture.
That photo was virtually the evidence besides the testimony.
In the image shown to jurors during opening statements but not publicly released, Mueller's hand is behind Swift, just below her waist. Both are smiling.
Mueller's then-girlfriend is standing on the other side of Swift.
Swift testified that after she was groped, she numbly told Mueller and his girlfriend, "Thank you for coming," and moved on to photos with others waiting in line because she did not want to disappoint them.
But she said she immediately went to her photographer after the meet-and-greet ended and found the photo of her with Mueller, telling the photographer what happened.
Andrea Swift testified that she asked Bell to call Mueller's employers. They did not call the police to avoid further traumatising her daughter, she said.
"We absolutely wanted to keep it private, but we didn't want him to get away with it," Andrea Swift testified.
Bell said he emailed the photo to Robert Call, KYGO's general manager, for use in his investigation of Mueller.
He said he did not ask that Mueller be fired, but that "appropriate action be taken".
AP
Topics: law-crime-and-justice, arts-and-entertainment, human-interest, united-states
First posted