The judge in the ongoing civil case between Taylor Swift and former radio host David Mueller has ruled that Mueller’s initial claims against the pop singer are bogus.
Mueller tried to sue Swift for $3 million in damages for getting him fired, saying that she had misidentified him as the person who groped her when she reported the incident to his employer, radio station KYGO.
He maintained the accusation was false, and that Swift, her mother, Andrea, and her radio rep, Frank Bell, had pushed KYGO to sack him.
The judge determined that Mueller hadn’t proven that Swift planned to get him fired. Mueller’s claims against Andrea Swift and Bell are ongoing.
Mueller’s suit against Swift led to her countersuit for sexual assault, saying the accused groped her during a 2013 meet-and-greet.
Swift is going for dismissal and summary judgment of Mueller’s case against her.
In her countersuit, she has asked for a ceremonial $1 judgment, and has said she will donate any damages awarded to victim support groups. She hopes to “serve as an example to other women who may resist publicly reliving similar outrageous and humiliating acts“.
When Mueller testified, he admitted it was “possible” he had accidentally groped Swift. He also denied that he had destroyed evidence after all of the devices containing recordings of the phone call in which he was fired somehow – mysteriously, magically – broke.
He put forward his former colleague Hershel Coomer as the alleged groper.
When Swift testified this week, she insisted the grope was not an accident: “He did not touch my arm. He did not touch my hand. He grabbed my bare ass.”
The matters come to a head early next week in court in Denver, with closing arguments due on Monday.
