Cristiano Ronaldo's rape accuser Kathryn Mayorga finds appeal denied by US court

Kathryn Mayorga charged Cristiano Ronaldo, then 24 years old, of rape in a Las Vegas hotel bedroom, however, through his legal team, he insisted that the act was consensual. 

In 2010, he reached a settlement of $335,000 (£267,000) with Mayorga and her attorney, Leslie Mark Stovall.

In light of the 2017 disclosures, Stovall then requested—on Mayorga's behalf—an increase in damages to a maximum of $25 million, claiming fraud, coercion, conspiracy, and defamation. 

In June 2022, US District Judge Jennifer Dorsey dismissed this idea, which prompted Stovall to file an appeal.

In addition to requesting that the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals reverse the dismissal, Mayorga's attorney contended that Dorsey had misused her authority in rejecting the case. 

According to Stovall, the judge ought to have granted Mayorga's request to release the 2010 confidentiality agreement. On Tuesday, however, the three-judge bench of the San Francisco-based court dismissed Mayorga's suit and agreed with Ronaldo. 

In addition, they fined Stovall a whopping $335,000, which was deemed an extraordinary measure in this kind of situation.

The six-page decision on Tuesday is summarised as follows: "The district court provided a thorough analysis, amply supported by factual findings, and accordingly recognised the gravity of dismissing the case." 

The 2010 settlement was forgotten until 2017 when hundreds of papers were made public by Football Leaks when Ronaldo's previous solicitors' computer was breached. 

Mayorga and Ronaldo agreed to a settlement and a confidentiality agreement, but Stovall went back to "Football Leaks" and utilised papers, including ones that were obviously marked "attorney-client privileged," to bring a new case on Mayorga's behalf.

"Judge Dorsey properly held that Ronaldo did not waive or otherwise forfeit his claim of attorney-client privilege as to the 'Football Leaks' documents. Before the leak, his attorneys employed cybersecurity tools to protect their files. As the district court noted, Ronaldo mistakenly produced the course of ‘navigating this unorthodox predicament,' kicked off by Mayorga's counsel's 'unprincipled conduct' long before, and instituted vigorous efforts to protect the documents afterwards. The district court did not abuse its discretion when it found that a case-terminating sanction was appropriate."

It is doubtful that this matter will be reopened very soon, given Mayorga's appeal was not only denied but also fined by a large fine for Stovall. It may mark the conclusion of a lawsuit that has, in all, lasted more than 14 years.