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Article continues belowArticle continues belowArticle continues below<script type="application/json" data-placement="fcplayer-semantic">{"type":"fcplayer-semantic","data":{"embedCode":"//cdn.fcp.codes/embed-code-template/embed-code-template.js#SEMANTIC_5704afb8-c10b-4ba5-9cb4-d7fb6098ef90"}}</script><ul><li>Ronaldo accused of rape in 2009</li><li>Hush-money settlement reached a year later</li><li>U.S. court denies appeal</li></ul>

Cristiano Ronaldo's rape accuser Kathryn Mayorga sees appeal of 2010 hush-money settlement denied by U.S. court

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Mayorga accused Ronaldo, then 24, of sexual assault in a hotel bedroom in Las Vegas. The Portugal star maintained the act was consensual through his legal team and settled with Mayorga and her lawyer, Leslie Mark Stovall, for an amount of $335,000 (£267,000) in 2010.Following leaks in 2017, Stovall, on behalf of Mayorga, later asked for an increase on this settlement to upwards of $25 million in damages, citing conspiracy, defamation, breach of contract, coercion and fraud. This notion was rejected by U.S. District Judge Jennifer Dorsey in June 2022, leading Stovall to lodge an appeal.

WHAT HAPPENED?

Not only had Mayorga's lawyer asked the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn the dismissal, but he also argued that Dorsey had abused her discretion in her dismissing of the case. Stovall claimed that the Judge should not have rejected Mayorga's claims to make public the confidentiality agreement signed in 2010. However, the three-judge panel of the San Francisco-based court sided with Ronaldo on Tuesday, rejecting Mayorga's claim. Furthermore, they levied a massive $335,000 fine against Stovall, considered an unusual step in cases such as these.

THE BIGGER PICTURE

An excerpt of Tuesday's six-page ruling reads as follows: “The district court clearly recognized the gravity of dismissing the case and accordingly provided a thorough analysis, amply supported by factual finding. [The 2010 settlement] lay dormant until 2017, when ... `Football Leaks' released hundreds of documents through a cyber hack of Ronaldo's former attorneys. Despite the settlement and confidentiality agreement between Ronaldo and Mayorga, Stovall sought and used documents from 'Football Leaks' — including those clearly marked attorney-client privileged — to prosecute a new lawsuit on behalf of Mayorga against Ronaldo. "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."

WHAT THE COURT SAID

With Mayorga's appeal not only rejected but also penalised in the form of a hefty fine for Stovall, it seems unlikely that this case will be re-opened anytime soon. It could represent the end of a case which has lasted over 14 years in its entirety.

WHAT NEXT?

Cristiano Ronaldo's rape accuser Kathryn Mayorga sees appeal of 2010 hush-money settlement denied by U.S. court | Goal.com

Kathryn Mayorga, the woman who accused Cristiano Ronaldo of rape back in 2009, has seen her appeal against a hush-money settlement denied.

Cristiano Ronaldo&apos;s rape accuser Kathryn Mayorga sees appeal of 2010 hush-money settlement denied by U.S. court