EXCLUSIVE

The Denver DJ Taylor Swift claims grabbed her butt during a photo op was too late to the table when it comes to HIS claim she slandered his good name.

Taylor won part of her legal dispute with David Mueller Wednesday when the court threw out his claim Swift went too far by saying he'd reached under her dress, and grabbed her butt while posing backstage at a 2013 concert. The judge said the 1-year statute of limitations for a slander claim had long since run out by the time Mueller filed it in 2016.

You'll recall, Mueller says he was fired from his job at KYGO in Denver after Taylor accused him of groping her. He sued her, and then Taylor countersued.