LAS VEGAS (AP) — Cristiano Ronaldo’s lawyers urged a U.S. federal appeals court on Wednesday to reject an appeal by a woman trying to force the soccer player to pay millions of dollars.
The money will be added to the $375,000 Cristiano paid to the woman who accused him of raping her in Las Vegas in 2009. The athlete’s legal representatives also sought approval of sanctions imposed on the plaintiff’s lawyers.
The woman’s lawyers asked the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn a June 2022 ruling dismissing the case and reopen the civil lawsuit originally filed in 2018.
The appeal says a federal judge in Nevada should not have rejected the woman’s attempt to disclose a nondisclosure agreement she signed in 2010 when she accepted payments from the football player.
The three-judge panel of the San Francisco Court of Appeals did not immediately issue a ruling after 45 minutes of oral arguments between Cristiano’s attorneys and accuser Katherine Mayorga.
The Associated Press typically does not identify people who say they are victims of sexual assault, but Mayorga agreed to have her name released through her attorneys, including Leslie Mark Stovall.
Judge Johnny Rawlinson said the court would consider the appeal. A ruling can take weeks or months.
Rollison, Ninth Circuit Judge John Owens and Fifth Circuit Judge Sidney Fitzwater asked questions about the attorneys. Many pointed to a series of leaked documents related to nondisclosure agreements.
A special session of the appeals court was held Wednesday at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas School of Law.
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