Swift justice
Loses ‘grab’ suit vs. star
A judge on Friday threw out a former Denver radio host’s case against Taylor Swift, ruling that the pop star could not be held liable for the DJ getting fired. After US District Judge William Martinez’s ruling, Taylor Swift smiled and wiped away tears.
“What the f--k,” Swift mouthed to her brother in court.
The federal civil trial delved into the pair’s dueling lawsuits over whether DJ David Mueller groped her during a backstage meet-andgreet and whether she and her team ruined his career afterward.
Mueller’s identical allegations against Swift’s mother, Andrea, and her radio liaison will go to jurors for a verdict.
Swift is still pursuing her assaultand-battery countersuit for a single dollar and the chance to stand up for other women.
The singer’s former bodyguard testified in court Friday that he saw the ex-DJ accused of groping the pop star stick his hand up her skirt during a 2013 photo op. “No, I know I saw it. I don’t be
lieve I saw it. I know I saw it,” Greg Dent told jurors on the fifth day of Swift’s trial against the former KYGO radio host. “When he went to put his arm around her, his hand went under her skirt.”
Dent was standing a few feet away as the “Shake It Off ” singer posed for a photo with Mueller and his then-girlfriend, Shannon Melcher, at Denver’s Pepsi Center on June 2, 2013.
While he didn’t see Mueller actually touch Swift’s butt, Dent said he saw Mueller’s hand move up her skirt just before the photo was taken.
“She jumped, pushed her skirt down and moved closer to [Melcher],” he said.
Dent didn’t step in because Swift hadn’t motioned for him to come over, he said, adding that the pop star had told him sometimes he was “a little too mean.”
“I know she would have said something if she wanted me to intervene,” he testified. “I know she wasn’t comfortable with it. That’s why she moved, pushed her skirt down and moved closer to the woman.”
Swift, who wore a striped shirt dress, black tights and booties to court Friday, laughed when Dent said he thought he’d find Mueller at the arena’s bar after the photo was taken.
Dent also testified that after the incident, he told Swift’s male fans “to keep their hands up high” while taking photos with her, explaining that Swift was “too fanfriendly for me.”
Mueller, who wanted $3 million in damages, sued Swift in 2015, claiming she had falsely accused him of groping her and caused him to lose his $150,000-a-year radio job.
On Thursday, Swift confidently told the eight-member jury that Mueller grabbed her and “stayed latched onto my bare ass cheek as I moved away from him visibly uncomfortable.”
Melcher, Mueller’s ex-girlfriend, also testified on Friday and said the photo “happened very quickly.”
She insisted she didn’t see Mueller touch Swift inappropriately.
“I was facing forward,” Melcher said. “I don’t have eyes in the back of my head. But I did not notice anything of that type, no.”