A Florida artist is going to extraordinary lengths in her legal battle against pop superstar Taylor Swift, even turning to police departments across multiple states in a desperate attempt to serve the elusive singer with lawsuit papers. Kimberly Marasco claims Swift stole creative elements from her poetry for songs across multiple albums including “Folklore,” “Midnights,” and “The Tortured Poets Department” – but can’t get her day in court until she can physically deliver the legal documents to Swift.
The $25 million copyright infringement lawsuit has hit a major roadblock as Marasco struggles to locate the notoriously private celebrity, whose whereabouts she describes as “unpredictable”. Judge Aileen Cannon has warned that failure to properly serve Swift could result in dismissal of the case – a scenario that already played out in a previous lawsuit Marasco filed.
The Hunt for Taylor Swift
Marasco’s efforts to track down Swift have become increasingly desperate and expensive. She has contacted sheriff’s offices in California, Tennessee, New York, and Rhode Island in her quest to deliver the legal papers. The process has taken a personal toll on Marasco, who told Newsweek: “This process has been draining and incredibly time-consuming. I am exhausted”.
Her attempts have met with consistent failure:
- In California, a sheriff made three separate attempts to serve papers at a property associated with Swift, but security personnel denied entry each time
- In Tennessee, a Davidson County sheriff returned an affidavit stating Swift “owns property at the location but does not live there”
- The New York Sheriff’s Office is processing documents with service attempts potentially taking 3-4 weeks
- In Rhode Island, a security guard instructed a process server to hand documents to the nearest police station, and Marasco was warned that returning to the property could result in trespassing charges
Marasco is now seeking reimbursement of $631.30 for expenses related to hiring sheriffs and process servers in her quest.
Legal Implications and Next Steps
This case highlights the unique challenges of pursuing legal action against celebrities who maintain highly private personal lives. Judge Cannon, who previously dismissed a classified documents case involving former President Donald Trump, has ordered that none of the co-defendants – including Swift’s collaborators Jack Antonoff and Aaron Dessner, as well as Universal Music Group and Republic Records – need to respond to the lawsuit until all parties have been properly served.
Marasco has requested that Judge Cannon extend the service deadline from May 29 to June 15 and permit alternative methods of service. In her motion, she argued: “Without service, [she] faces undue hardship as the Court’s prior dismissal ties all defendants’ responses to Swift’s service, denying redress for alleged copyright infringement”.
Swift’s legal team remains unmoved, with representatives Aaron S. Bly and Katherine Morrone responding to Marasco’s initial lawsuit by stating: “Nothing has changed since the Court last denied Plaintiff’s requests. The Court should dismiss Plaintiff’s claims against the Artist for failure to perfect service of process”.
As this unusual legal drama continues to unfold, it remains to be seen whether Marasco will succeed in her quest to serve Swift with the lawsuit papers or if the case will meet the same fate as her previous attempt.
