Judge Rules Swiftly, Taylor Out Of Suit
Closing statements are scheduled for today in the U.S. District Court of Colorado, as the highly publicized trial involving Taylor Swift and former KYGO/Denver morning co-host David Mueller lurches to some kind of conclusion. Late Friday Mueller’s case began to fall apart as U.S. District Judge William Martinez invoked something called Rule 50 and removed Taylor from the lawsuit against her, ruling that Mueller’s legal team had failed to prove that she had personally orchestrated his termination after that now infamous 2013 Denver meet-and-greet.
The Associated Press reports that Judge Martinez also dismissed tossed four of the five claims Mueller made against Thirteen Management’s Frank Bell, Taylor’s mother Andrea Swift and the other defendants in the case; however, the first claim Mueller made in his suit against them — tortious interference with future employment prospects — will move ahead to the jury, though Bell and Mrs. Swift are the only defendants left. Also going to the jury will be Taylor Swift’s counterclaim on assault and battery claims against Mueller, who denies groping Swift and sued the singer, her mother, Andrea Swift, and Frank Bell, seeking up to $3 million as compensation for his ruined radio career.
We know most this information thanks to the awesome live-blogging job done all week by Blair Miller of the local ABC affiliate.
The trial certainly consumed more than its share of pop culture oxygen over the past week, with riveting testimony from Ms. Swift, her mother, her bodyguard, former KYGO PD Eddie Haskell, and Mueller’s ex-girlfriend and former morning show partner, to name just a few. Both parties will get 60 minutes for closing statements today.
