37-year-old Kathryn Mayorga claims Ronaldo sexually assaulted her in 2009 at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas. In 2010, she settled for $375,000 in a non-disclosure agreement with the superstar. But in a new claim, she says she was mentally unfit when she took the settlement.
Ronaldo’s legal fight against Mayorga who accuses the Juventus star of rape in Las Vegas resort more than 10 years ago is heading towards a trial before a federal judge in Nevada.
No date was immediately set but US judge, Jennifer Dorsey ruled against him and ordered a trial date to be set to settle the matter by December. This because the merit of Mayorga’s claim “hinges on the mental capacity issue”.
In the court filings obtained by the Sun, judge Jennifer Dorsey ruled, “I find that Mayorga’s challenge that she lacked the mental capacity to assent to the settlement agreement is not arbitrable”.
“Mayorga did not comply with the correct procedure to request a jury trial of the mental-capacity issue. So I direct the partied to prepare to adjudicate it in a bench trial”.
“Because the proper venue for resolving Mayorga’s claims on their merits hinges on the mental capacity issue, I deny without prejudice Ronaldo’s motion to dismiss them.”
Ronaldo’s attorney, Peter Christiansen declined to comment on Tuesday. While Mayorga’s lawyers, led by Leslie Mark Stovall have yet to respond to the judge’s ruling.
The ruling represents a setback for Ronaldo’s legal representatives, who have so far kept details of the 2010 settlement sealed. Questions around the case that US magistrate judge Daniel Albregts said in February belonged behind closed doors will now be heard in a public court. US district judges can overrule magistrate judges, who handle court filings and pretrial arguments.
Mayorga, 37, is a former teacher and model who lives in the Las Vegas area. She states in her lawsuit that Ronaldo or his associates violated the confidentiality agreement by allowing reports about it to appear in European publications in 2017. She seeks to collect at least $200,000 more from Ronaldo.
Ronaldo’s lawyers maintain that media reports were based on electronic data illegally hacked, stolen and sold by cyber criminals. They say they believe documents have been altered and complain that Mayorga’s lawsuit damages Ronaldo’s reputation.
Mayorga says she met Ronaldo at a nightclub in 2009 and went with him and other people to his hotel suite, where her lawsuit alleges he assaulted her in a bedroom. She was 25 at the time; he was 24. Ronaldo, through his lawyers, maintains the sex was consensual.
Stovall says Mayorga had learning disabilities as a child, was pressured by Ronaldo’s representatives and lacked the legal capacity to sign a nondisclosure agreement.
The judge declined, at least for now, to name Mayorga’s brother as her guardian for the case. Dorsey also said some disputes could be resolved out of court.
“The court must decide whether Mayorga lacked the mental capacity to assent to the settlement agreement,” Dorsey wrote.
If Mayorga was fit to enter the agreement, the judge said, it binds her to confidentiality and an arbitrator’s decision behind closed doors about whether the contract was legal and valid.