A DJ who was accused of grabbing Taylor Swift's butt has had his slander claim against the singer thrown out.
Taylor Swift
David Mueller previously sued the 'Bad Blood' hitmaker in September 2015, claiming her allegations he had reached under her dress and groped her during a meet-and-greet backstage at a 2013 concert had cost him his job at KYGO in Denver and amended his lawsuit in February 2016 to accuse the pop star of slander.
However, in a summary judgement this week, a judge ruled the one-year statute of limitations for a slander claim had run out by the time the DJ filed it.
According to documents obtained by People magazine, US District Court judge William Martinez stated: "There would appear to be nothing improper about Swift -- or any other person -- making an honest report to an entity with which she does business that one of its employees assaulted or harassed her."
The DJ initially accused Taylor and her team of "intentional interference with contract and tortious interference with prospective business relations", and in response she filed a countersuit accusing him of assault and battery, prompting him to then add in the slander accusations, arguing he should have had another chance after the 27-year-old singer filed her complaint.
However, the judge insisted approving the suit would allow clever lawyers to navigate around time constraints in other cases.
And the judge also noted David - who can go ahead with his tortious interference accusation - had lost important evidence in "preventable circumstances".
A footnote stated: "The Court is dismayed to learn that contemporaneously-created evidence regarding the central disputed events in this case was lost in entirely preventable circumstances.
"This is especially troubling because it appears that Mueller was already consulting with his lawyer about possible legal action at the time the audio files were edited and lost ... but it is more troubling that counsel failed to assure this evidence was preserved."
A jury will hear both Taylor and David's versions of events in a nine-day trial in Colorado, which will begin on August 7.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, the judge noted: "Having reviewed these evidentiary materials, the Court finds that the central and genuine dispute remains.
"Certain witnesses' testimony tends to corroborate Swift's version of events, and Mueller points to other evidence that he argues shows inconsistencies in Swift's story. None of this changes the reality that if a jury accepts Mueller's version of the facts, then it must substantially reject Swift's version, and vice versa. In ruling on summary judgment, it is not the Court's role to resolve this dispute...
"To be clear, the Court views this as a close question. There would appear to be nothing improper about Swift -- or any other person -- making an honest report to an entity with which she does business that one of its employees assaulted or harassed her. Indeed, in the undersigned's view, the policy of the law should encourage the reporting of actual assaults, not attach liability to it. ...
"Nevertheless, in considering the present record, the law requires the Court to treat Mueller's version of the facts as true at this stage of litigation, and therefore to view the entire record from a standpoint that views Mueller as having been wrongly accused."
All parties must be present for the trial.
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