June 11, (THEWILL) – A rape case filed by a Nevada woman against Cristiano Ronaldo in Las Vegas was dismissed by a US judge on bad-faith grounds.
Kathryn Mayorga was requesting that Ronaldo pay her millions of dollars more than the £305k ($375k) she received in a confidentiality agreement after she alleged that he raped her in Las Vegas in 2009 – an allegation that Ronaldo has consistently denied.
On Friday, U.S. District Judge Jennifer Dorsey dismissed the claim, ruling that Mayorga’s attorney, Leslie Mark Stovall, had engaged in “bad-faith conduct” and used “purloined” confidential data, tainting the case beyond redemption.
Dorsey issued a 42-page decision dismissing the lawsuit without the option of re-filing it, claiming that this was a harsh sanction and that Stovall’s actions had hurt Ronaldo.
The decision read, in part: “I find that the procurement and continued use of these documents was bad faith, and 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 (plaintiff Kathryn) Mayorga’s claims … Harsh sanctions are merited.”
U.S. Magistrate Judge Daniel Albregts had chastised Stovall’s actions and reliance on leaked and sensitive materials in 2021, and Dorsey had followed that recommendation.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
