Taylor Swift has triumphed in her week-long groping trial.
A judge awarded the singer a symbolic $1 after a jury found disgraced radio host David Mueller guilty of assaulting her during a 2013 meet-and-greet backstage at a concert in Denver, Colorado.
The jury members also decided that Swift’s mother, Andrea, and a manager, Frank Bell, were not responsible for Mueller’s firing after the encounter, ruling both were within their rights to contact Mueller’s bosses and report him after he groped her butt during a photo opportunity.
Mueller initially filed a slander suit against the singer, her mother, and Bell, but that was dismissed on Friday (11Aug17) on grounds the radio host and his lawyer had failed to prove that the trio schemed to get Mueller fired.
Swift filed a countersuit, in which she charged Mueller with assault and battery.
During court proceedings last week, Taylor, her mother and the singer’s former security guard Greg Dent took the stand to testify against Mueller.
Taylor Swift revealed politeness and professionalism prevented her from making a fuss at the time, admitting she even thanked Mueller and his then-girlfriend for attending the meet-and-greet after he had groped her.
Taylor Swift told the court, “He stayed attached to my bare a** cheek as I lurched away from him. It was a definite grab. A very long grab.”
Dent revealed he witnessed Mueller’s actions but didn’t act because his client didn’t seem upset: “I didn’t do anything because sometimes she (Taylor) said I was a little too mean…,” the minder said. “I can’t tell you how long his hand was there. I just can tell you he put his hand under her skirt, she pushed it down.”
Andrea Swift also testified, explaining she wanted to “vomit and cry at the same time” when her daughter told her what she had experienced.
“We felt it was imperative to let his employers know what happened,” she told the court.
