Ronaldo’ lawsuit gets dismissed by US judge
A rape lawsuit against football superstar Cristiano Ronaldo was rejected by a US district judge in Las Vegas, who chastised the legal team behind the case.
The lawsuit of Kathryn Mayorga of Nevada, who claimed she was raped by the Portuguese soccer star in a Las Vegas hotel room in 2009, was dismissed by Judge Jennifer Dorsey.
The judge accused Mayorga’s counsel of “abuses and gross circumvention of the normal litigation procedure” in a 42-page judgment issued on Friday, saying that as a result, “Mayorga loses her ability to continue this lawsuit.”
According to US media reports, her lawyers attempted to drop the case voluntarily last month, but Dorsey concluded that their continued use of illegally obtained sensitive papers required the case to be dismissed “with prejudice,” meaning it could not be reopened.
“Nothing less than a dismissal without prejudice can cleanse the taint that has pervaded this case since its start and protect the integrity of the litigation process,” Dorsey wrote.
Mayorga filed a lawsuit against Ronaldo in September of last year, saying that he sexually abused her. Ronaldo has rejected the allegations.
Mayorga said that, while she agreed to a cash settlement with Ronaldo immediately after the alleged incident — allegedly for $375,000 – her emotional anguish prevented her from participating in the mediation process at the time. Mayorga’s lawyer, Leslie Stovall, made frequent use of “cyber-hacked attorney-client protected materials” in an attempt to resurrect the case, according to Dorsey.
“Simply disqualifying Stovall will not cure the prejudice to Ronaldo, because the misappropriated documents and their confidential contents have been woven into the very fabric of Mayorga’s claims,” the judge ruled, and “disqualifying Stovall will not cure the prejudice to Ronaldo, because the misappropriated documents and their confidential contents have been woven into the very fabric of Mayorga’s claims.”
Ronaldo is a five-time winner of the Ballon d’Or award for best player in the world. He is one of the greatest names in the world of football.
Agence France-Presse is a news agency based in Paris, France.
