TAYLORSWIFT WINS GROPE CASE, IS AWARDED $1
DENVER — Four years after Taylor Swift tried to handle her groping allegation against a radio station DJ quietly, the pop superstar got a very public victory Monday with a jury’s verdict that she hoped would inspire other women.
Jurors in U. S. District Court in Denver deliberated fewer than four hours to find that ex- radio host David Mueller assaulted and battered Swift during a pre- concert meet- and- greet in June 2013. Per Swift’s request, jurors awarded her $ 1 in damages — a sum her attorney, Douglas Baldridge, called “a single symbolic dollar, the value of which is immeasurable to all women in this situation.”
After Monday’s verdict, Swift hugged her crying mom and thanked her attorneys “for fighting for me and anyone who feels silenced by a sexual assault, and especially anyone who offered their support throughout this fouryear ordeal and twoyearlong trial process.”
“My hope is to help those whose voices should also be heard,” Swift said in a prepared statement, promising to make unspecified donations to groups that help victims of sexual assault.
The six- woman, two- man jury also rejected Mueller’s claims that Swift’s mother, Andrea Swift, and radio liaison Frank Bell cost him his $ 150,000- ayear job at country station KYGO- FM, where he was a morning host.
On Friday, U. S. District Judge William Martinez dismissed similar claims against Taylor Swift, ruling Mueller’s team failed to offer evidence that the then- 23- year- old superstar did anything more than report the incident to her team, including hermother.
Mueller, who was seeking up to $ 3 million, denied Swift’s allegation from the start and maintained his innocence after the verdict.