This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

Taylor Swift has won vindication after a jury decided in a civil trial that a radio host groped her during a pre-concert photo op four years ago.

After a week-long trial over dueling lawsuits, jurors determined Monday that fired Denver DJ David Mueller assaulted the pop star by grabbing her backside during a backstage meet-and-greet.

Mueller initially sued Swift; her mother, Andrea; and their radio handler, Frank Bell, seeking up to $3m for his ruined career, and the singer-songwriter countersued, saying that he had groped her.

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“My hope is to help those whose voices should also be heard,” the singer said in a statement, acknowledging her ability to “shoulder the enormous cost” of attorneys to defend her in court. “Therefore, I will be making donations in the near future to multiple organizations that help sexual assault victims defend themselves.”

On Friday, the judge threw out Mueller’s case against Swift, determining that the pop star could not be held liable because Mueller had failed to prove that she personally set out to have him fired. On Monday, the six-woman, two-man jury also sided with Swift’s mother and their radio liaison, deciding that they were within their rights to contact Mueller’s bosses.

Mueller has said Swift’s claim that he groped her at a 2013 pre-concert event in Denver was false and led to his firing.

“I’ve been trying to clear my name for four years,” Mueller said after the verdict. “Civil court is the only option I had. This is the only way that I could be heard.”



In closing arguments in Denver federal court on Monday, lawyer Douglas Baldridge characterized the former DJ as an “aggressor”.

Baldridge asked jurors: “Will aggressors like David Mueller be allowed to victimize their victims?”



Citing Swift’s counterclaim alleging assault and battery, Baldridge asked jurors to “return a verdict for a single dollar, a single symbolic dollar, the value of which is immeasurable to all women in this situation”.

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 stayed attached to my bare ass-cheek as I lurched away from him,” Swift testified in a fiery hour-long stint on the witness stand last week.



“It was a definite grab. A very long grab,” she added.

Swift cried during part of closing arguments after Mueller’s lawyer Gabriel McFarland questioned whether the pop star’s smiling face in a photo she appeared in with Mueller was the face of someone who was upset.

Andrea Swift touched her daughter’s leg as the pop star cried and wiped her face in federal court in Denver. Her lawyer also rubbed her back.

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Andrea Swift touched her daughter’s hand as McFarland said the photograph taken during the meet-and-greet meant nothing.

Swift testified the photo was taken just as she was groped by Mueller, who denied the allegation.

McFarland had told jurors that Mueller “is not the guy” who groped Swift. McFarland also cast doubt on a Swift security guard’s claim that he saw Mueller touch Swift but did not act because he did not think she was in danger.

He also said the photographer who took the image “started it all” by pulling a photo of Mueller and his girlfriend with Swift from dozens she took during a meet-and-greet and showing it to Swift, who identified Mueller as the person who touched her.

Swift, 27, started her career as a country singer in the mid-2000s, before crossing over into pop and achieving superstar status with her albums Red and 1989 and becoming the world’s best-paid musician last year.