Cristiano Ronaldo: Judge dismisses Vegas rape lawsuit

LAS VEGAS –

A Nevada girl has misplaced her bid in a U.S. court docket to power worldwide soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo to pay hundreds of thousands of {dollars} greater than the US$375,000 in hush cash she obtained after claiming he raped her in Las Vegas in 2009.

U.S. District Decide Jennifer Dorsey in Las Vegas kicked the case out of court docket on Friday to punish the girl’s legal professional, Leslie Mark Stovall, for “bad-faith conduct” and using leaked and stolen paperwork detailing attorney-client discussions between Ronaldo and his attorneys. Dorsey mentioned that tainted the case past redemption.

Dorsey mentioned in her 42-page order that dismissing a case outright with no choice to file it once more is a extreme sanction, however mentioned Ronaldo had been harmed by Stovall’s conduct.

“I discover that the procurement and continued use of those paperwork was unhealthy religion, and easily disqualifying Stovall won’t remedy the unfairness to Ronaldo as a result of the misappropriated paperwork and their confidential contents have been woven into the very cloth of (plaintiff Kathryn) Mayorga’s claims,” the ruling mentioned. “Harsh sanctions are merited.”

Stovall didn’t instantly reply Saturday to phone and e mail messages. Textual content messages to affiliate Larissa Drohobyczer weren’t answered. They may enchantment the choice to the ninth U.S. Circuit Courtroom of Appeals in San Francisco.

In an announcement referring to Mayorga solely as “plaintiff,” Ronaldo’s legal professional in Las Vegas, Peter Christiansen, mentioned Cristiano’s authorized staff welcomed the choice.

“Now we have maintained the motion was introduced in unhealthy religion,” the assertion mentioned. “The outright dismissal of plaintiff’s case ought to give all who observe this matter renewed confidence within the judicial course of on this nation whereas dissuading those that search to undermine it.”

The Related Press usually doesn’t identify individuals who say they’re victims of sexual assault, however Mayorga gave consent by Stovall and Drohobyczer to make her identify public.

Dorsey had signaled earlier this 12 months that she was prepared to finish the case after Stovall failed to satisfy a procedural deadline in his bid for greater than $25 million in damages primarily based on allegations that Ronaldo or his associates violated a 2010 confidentiality settlement by letting experiences about it seem in European publications in 2017.

Mayorga’s civil lawsuit — filed in 2018 in state court docket and moved in 2019 to federal court docket — alleged that Ronaldo or his associates violated the confidentiality settlement earlier than the German information outlet Der Spiegel printed an article titled “Cristiano Ronaldo’s Secret” primarily based on paperwork obtained from “whistleblower portal Soccer Leaks.”

Ronaldo’s authorized staff blamed the experiences on digital information leaks of paperwork hacked from regulation companies and different entities in Europe and put up on the market. Christiansen alleged additionally that data was altered or fabricated.

Christiansen and legal professional Kendelee Works in Las Vegas efficiently fought for the reason that case emerged in 2018 to forestall the pact from disclosure.

Mayorga is a former mannequin and instructor who lives within the Las Vegas space. Her lawsuit mentioned she met Ronaldo at a nightclub and went with him and different individuals to his resort suite, the place she alleged he assaulted her in a bed room. She was 25 on the time. He was 24.

Ronaldo’s authorized staff doesn’t dispute Ronaldo met Mayorga and so they had intercourse in June 2009, however maintained it was consensual and never rape.

Mayorga went to Las Vegas police on the time, however the investigation was dropped as a result of Mayorga neither recognized her alleged attacker by identify nor mentioned the place the incident occurred, police and prosecutors mentioned.

Ronaldo, now 37, is likely one of the most extremely paid and recognizable sports activities stars on the earth. He performs for the English Premier League membership Manchester United and has captained the nationwide staff of his house nation, Portugal. He spent a number of current years enjoying in Italy for the Turin-based membership Juventus.

Las Vegas police reopened their rape investigation after Mayorga’s lawsuit was filed, however Clark County District Lawyer Steve Wolfson determined in 2019 to not pursue legal expenses.

Wolfson, the elected public prosecutor in Las Vegas, mentioned an excessive amount of time had handed and proof failed to indicate that Mayorga’s accusation might be proved to a jury past an inexpensive doubt.

Stovall maintained that Mayorga did not break the hush-money settlement. Her lawsuit sought to void it, accusing Ronaldo and reputation-protection “fixers” of conspiracy, defamation, breach of contract, coercion and fraud. In paperwork filed final 12 months, Stovall tallied damages at $25 million plus legal professional charges.

The legal professional argued that Mayorga had studying disabilities as a baby and was so pressured by Ronaldo’s attorneys and representatives that she was in no situation to consent to dropping her legal grievance and accepting the $375,000 in August 2010.

Dorsey adopted suggestions from U.S. Justice of the Peace Decide Daniel Albregts, who dealt with preliminary and procedural rulings within the case, that it’s dismissed for unhealthy religion, “inappropriate conduct” by Stovall and reliance on the leaked and stolen confidential paperwork.

“There isn’t any attainable method for this case to proceed the place the court docket can’t inform what arguments and testimony are primarily based on these privileged paperwork,” Albregts mentioned in an October 2021 report back to Dorsey.

Stovall “acted in unhealthy religion by asking for, receiving, and utilizing the Soccer Leaks paperwork to prosecute Mayorga’s case,” Albregts wrote. He blamed Stovall for “audacious,” “impertinent” and “abusive” makes an attempt to make the confidentiality settlement public by authorized maneuvers and the court docket file and really useful to Dorsey that she reject Stovall’s declare that Mayorga lacked the psychological capability to signal the 2010 settlement.

The ninth Circuit dominated early this 12 months that it could be as much as Dorsey to determine that query.

It was not instantly clear in Dorsey’s ruling whether or not the general public may nonetheless get a have a look at the Las Vegas police report compiled about Ronaldo after Mayorga filed her lawsuit in 2018.

Albregts mentioned in March that denying the New York Occasions entry to what police collected “would virtually actually elevate the `specter of presidency censorship.”‘ He really useful that Dorsey switch to a state court docket the newspaper’s open-records request for paperwork.

A protecting order that Dorsey imposed to forestall the discharge of the 2010 settlement does not apply to the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Division, Albregts discovered, and “doesn’t bar LVMPD from disseminating its legal investigative file.”

Lawyer Margaret McLetchie, representing the newspaper, didn’t instantly reply Saturday to a message about that case.