A federal jury on Monday found that a former radio show host groped singer Taylor Swift before a 2013 concert in Denver, and it awarded her a symbolic $1 in damages.
The jury also found that neither Swift’s mother nor her radio promotions manager interfered with David Mueller’s employment contract when they reported the assault.
Swift issued a statement thanking her attorneys and the judge “for fighting for me and anyone who feels silenced by a sexual assault, and especially anyone who offered their support throughout this four-year ordeal and two-year-long trial process.”
Mueller, a former KYGO radio host, sued Swift, her mother and her radio promotions manager, Frank Bell, in 2015. Mueller claimed that they interfered with his employment at KYGO after Bell reported to the station Swift’s claims that the host had groped her and said it could have “grave” consequences on the relationship between the singer and the station. Mueller had sought up to $3 million, saying the allegation cost him his job and reputation.
Swift countersued and sought the $1 in damages. She said she wants to serve as an example to other women who have been sexually assaulted.
“That dollar is of immeasurable value,” Swift’s attorney Douglas Baldridge said after the verdicts were read.
He said Swift had a lot of courage to come forward, and he called her an inspiration to others.
“The right thing happened,” Baldridge said. “I think it is a new day because Taylor said this is it. The line is drawn.”
The jury — six women and two men — rejected Mueller’s claims as it considered six questions during deliberations in the federal civil trial, which began last week. Three of the questions dealt with Mueller’s claim and three dealt with Swift’s counterclaim.
With their three answers to the counterclaim, jurors found that Mueller assaulted and battered Swift, and then they awarded her the damages she sought. The verdicts came only hours after the jury began deliberations.
The jurors had to reach a unanimous verdict based on a preponderance of evidence, not proof beyond a reasonable doubt as required in criminal trials. A preponderance of evidence is “more probably true than not.”
Two teenage Swift fans were among those who watched on a video monitor from an overflow room as the verdicts were being read.
“I could tell Taylor was extremely excited,” said Abbey Shaw, 16. “She is putting out a message for women like us: Stick up for yourselves.”
“I am so happy because I knew she was right,” said 16-year-old Lizzy Howard, speaking of Swift. “Taylor Swift is my idol, and I want to meet her.”
Both girls said they were moved by Swift hugging her mother after the verdicts as her mother cried.
“You could tell the love in there,” Howard said.
Last week, Swift used blunt language to describe the assault during a meet-and-greet photo session with fans and others before a June 2, 2013, concert at the Pepsi Center.
“He did not touch my rib, he did not touch my hand, he didn’t touch my arm, he grabbed my bare ass,” she said.
In her statement after the verdicts Monday, Swift spoke about helping other victims.
“I acknowledge the privilege that I benefit from in life, in society and in my ability to shoulder the enormous cost of defending myself in a trial like this. My hope is to help those whose voices should also be heard. Therefore, I will be making donations in the near future to multiple organizations that help sexual assault victims defend themselves.”
Last week, U.S. District Judge William J. Martinez dismissed Mueller’s claims against Swift but allowed his claim against Swift’s mother and promotions manager to go forward.
During closings both sides offered dramatically different versions of maybe the most important piece of evidence during the trial: a photograph of Taylor Swift with Mueller and his former girlfriend taken during the photo session.
In his closing argument, Baldridge said Swift spoke on behalf of all women when she testified that “no means no.”
“He lost his job because he grabbed her butt and he got caught,” Baldridge said. “Now he’s trying to save his butt.”
But Mueller’s attorney Gabe McFarland told jurors that Swift falsely accused Mueller of assaulting her and that accusation destroyed his career.
“Why would Ms. Swift lie? I don’t know,” McFarland said. “I’m sure she thinks it’s true, but the photograph says otherwise.”
McFarland crouched down almost like a baseball catcher while demonstrating how low Mueller would have had to go to reach underneath Swift’s skirt and grab her. “He would have had to bend down like this.”
“Look at Ms. Swift’s face. Is that the face of someone who just had a strange man grab her butt?” McFarland said, referring to a smile on Swift’s face. He said there was no shock because nothing happened. He said her body was aligned just as it had been during each of the numerous photographs taken of her with various fans.
During his closing argument, Baldridge showed numerous pictures of Swift posing with other fans, most of whom were women with young daughters. He asked the jurors if there was any doubt who the perpetrator had been.
“Boy, she must have confused one of these little girls with Mr. Mueller. … I think it’s crystal clear Ms. Swift didn’t misidentify this man in that lineup,” Baldridge said. The only other adult couple in the group included a young man with long red hair with his arm around Swift’s upper back, he said.
The photograph shows Swift moving away from Mueller, who had his hand directly behind her bottom. Baldridge asked jurors to look at the smile on Mueller’s face when the picture was taken.
“That is a man who is very proud of what he was doing at that moment,” Baldridge said.
He said Mueller was upset that he was placed in the kiddie line and not with his peers and radio executives at another meet-and-greet session earlier.
“I thought we saw a man of fragile ego on the stand,” Baldridge said. “They tried to get out of the kiddie line …This man — the prominent on-air personality — was embarrassed.”
