Cristiano Ronaldo case on appeal: Lawyers make arguments to reopen civil suit
Cristiano Ronaldo’s lawyers are back in court.
Last week, attorneys for the Portuguese star were working to stop an appeal by an attorney for a woman who accused the soccer player of rape in 2009, in a case that was settled the next year. The appeal stems from a 2018 civil lawsuit filed by the woman, Kathryn Mayorga. Here’s how we got here, and what happens next.
What is this appeal hearing for?
Mayorga’s lawyer, Leslie Stovall, asked the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn a 2022 dismissal of a lawsuit filed in 2018 in last week’s hearing. In opposition, Ronaldo’s lawyers urged the court to reject the appeal and uphold hefty sanctions against Stovall, who was previously fined by a magistrate judge for acting in “bad faith.”
The three-judge panel of the appellate court did not issue an immediate ruling after 45 minutes of oral arguments between the sides. A final ruling could take weeks or months.
This is the latest in a long-drawn-out legal battle between Ronaldo and Mayorga, a former teacher and model from Las Vegas who alleges Ronaldo sexually assaulted her on June 13, 2009. Ronaldo has long denied the allegations, saying sex between the pair was consensual.
At the time, when she met Ronaldo at a Las Vegas nightclub, Mayorga was 25 and Ronaldo was 24. Ronaldo was already a well-known soccer player when the allegations were made against him. He is now one of the wealthiest athletes in the world, after making the controversial move to Saudi Arabian club Al Nassr.
Mayorga reached a settlement with Ronaldo in 2010. She later filed a civil lawsuit against him in 2018, when she retained Stovall, her current lawyer. The case was moved to federal court in 2019. The complaint, which was dismissed last year and is at the center of this week’s appellate hearing, alleged Ronaldo’s legal team pressured Mayorga to sign the 2010 settlement.
The appeal argues that a federal court judge in Nevada should not have rejected Mayorga’s attempts to unseal the confidential agreement she signed with Ronaldo and include it as evidence.
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Why was that 2018 case dismissed?
Last year, U.S. District Judge Jennifer Dorsey threw out Mayorga’s 2018 case after ruling that Stovall had solicited leaked and stolen records from Football Leaks and relied on them in their lawsuit. The judge dismissed the case with prejudice, meaning Mayorga would not be able to refile the case.
Dorsey went as far as ordering Stovall to pay $334,637.50 to reimburse Ronaldo for legal fees the footballer incurred defending himself. The judge said Stovall had harmed Ronaldo by conducting in “bad faith.”
Last week, the three-judge panel — composed of Circuit Judge Johnnie B. Rawlinson, Circuit Judge John B. Owens and Senior District Judge Sidney A. Fitzwater, of the Northern District of Texas — asked lawyers questions about the leaked documents, particularly whether they fell within the bounds of attorney-client privilege.
“We don’t know that the documents that John at Football Leaks delivered to me were the same documents that were hacked,” Stovall said in court. “And furthermore, we don’t know if the documents that were disclosed in this case are accurate copies of the original communications between Ronaldo’s lawyers.”
In her arguments, Ronaldo’s attorney Kendelee Works referred to emails between Stovall and a person described as “John at Football Leaks.” In their exchange, Stovall asked for documents “that absolutely call for disclosure of attorney-client privilege communications,” Works said to the panel.
Works on Wednesday urged the court to affirm Dorsey’s dismissal of the matter.
“What is before your honors is a case that was built and litigated upon hacked and privileged attorney-client communications and work product,” Works said. “Ms. Mayorga’s attempts through counsel to shift blame to Mr. Ronaldo and his counsel quite simply fail both legally and factually, as the District Court succinctly pointed out.”
What happens now?
After Mayorga filed her lawsuit, Las Vegas police reopened a rape investigation into her claims, but in 2019 said they would not pursue criminal charges. It’s unlikely that a criminal case would be reopened.
Mayorga’s original allegations were first reported by the German news outlet, Der Spiegel, in 2017, based on the Football Leaks documents. At that time, Mayorga’s identity remained unknown, and the outlet identified her as “Susan K.” Mayorga later went public with her identity.
A court of appeals decision is typically the final say in a case. The decision could send the case back to a trial court for additional proceedings, uphold the dismissal, or a party could ask the U.S. Supreme Court to review the matter.
(Photo: FAYEZ NURELDINE/AFP via Getty Images)
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