Mayorga v. Ronaldo

CourtDistrict Court, D. Nevada
DecidedMarch 11, 2022
Docket2:19-cv-00168
StatusUnknown

This text of Mayorga v. Ronaldo (Mayorga v. Ronaldo) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Nevada primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Mayorga v. Ronaldo, (D. Nev. 2022).

Opinion

2 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 3 DISTRICT OF NEVADA 4 * * * 5 Kathryn Mayorga, Case No. 2:19-cv-00168-JAD-DJA 6 Plaintiff, 7 Order v. and 8 Report and Recommendation Cristiano Ronaldo, 9 Defendant. 10 11 12 More than a decade ago, Kathryn Mayorga reported to the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police 13 Department (LVMPD) that she had been sexually assaulted by a famous soccer player whom she 14 declined to identify. LVMPD gathered evidence, interviewed Mayorga, and then closed its 15 investigation after Mayorga elected to pursue the case civilly. More than eight years later, 16 Mayorga met with LVMPD detectives, informed them that Cristiano Ronaldo was the assailant, 17 and asked to reopen her case. After meeting with and turning over documents to LVMPD, 18 Mayorga initiated the instant civil lawsuit against Ronaldo. 19 During the lawsuit, Ronaldo subpoenaed LVMPD for its criminal investigative file 20 regarding Mayorga and Ronaldo. After receiving the file, Ronaldo designated it “confidential” 21 under the protective order in this case. The New York Times later sent LVMPD a public records 22 request through the Nevada Public Records Act (NPRA), requesting LVMPD’s file. 23 Ronaldo moved for a protective order to prevent LVMPD from disclosing any portion of 24 the file. Mayorga moved for a preliminary injunction preventing LVMPD from disclosing certain 25 portions of its file. LVMPD filed a “notice” of real party in interest asking the Court for 26 clarification whether the protective order in this case bars it from disseminating its file. And The 27 Times moved to intervene. 1 Throughout their motion practice, all participants came to agree that the Eighth Judicial 2 District Court—rather than this Court—should decide whether LVMPD is obligated by the 3 NPRA to release its file. Because the Court also agrees, it denies Ronaldo’s motion for a 4 protective order as moot and recommends denying Mayorga’s motion for a preliminary injunction 5 and The Times’ motion to intervene as moot. The only remaining question before this Court is 6 whether the Court’s protective order bars LVMPD’s dissemination of its file. Construing 7 LVMPD’s “notice” as a motion for clarification, the Court grants LVMPD’s request and clarifies 8 that its protective order does not bar LVMPD from disseminating its file. The Court first 9 addresses LVMPD’s notice and then Ronaldo’s, Mayorga’s, and The Times’ pending motions. 10 I. Background. 11 In 2009, the LVMPD initiated an investigation into Mayorga’s allegations that a famous 12 soccer player had sexually assaulted her in a Las Vegas hotel room. (ECF No. 1 at 3); (ECF No. 13 172 at 2). Because Mayorga did not identify the perpetrator, no criminal charges were filed. 14 (ECF No. 172 at 2). LVMPD closed its investigation after Mayorga elected to pursue the case 15 civilly. (ECF No. 125-7 at 4). Mayorga later entered into a Settlement and Confidentiality 16 Agreement (SCA) to resolve her allegations against Ronaldo. (ECF No. 29 at 2). 17 Over eight years later, Mayorga again contacted LVMPD, asking for her sexual assault 18 investigation to be reopened. (ECF No. 125-8). Mayorga and her attorney provided LVMPD 19 with additional documents and a few days later, Mayorga initiated her state court lawsuit. (ECF 20 No. 125-7 at 5); (ECF No. 125-6); (ECF No. 112-1). Mayorga ultimately terminated her state 21 court action and initiated the instant action in federal court. (ECF No. 1). Currently, the only 22 claim pending in front of the Court is whether Mayorga lacked the mental capacity to assent to 23 the SCA. (ECF No. 72 at 2). 24 As the instant litigation progressed, Ronaldo moved for a protective order, arguing that 25 good cause existed to enter a protective order “governing the confidentiality of certain documents 26 which are to be produced in this case.” (ECF No. 92 at 1). Ronaldo also subpoenaed LVMPD 27 for its criminal investigative file, which included the documents Mayorga and her attorney had 1 “enter a protective order such that the parties can exchange such discovery materials without fear 2 of disclosure.” (ECF No. 99 at 4). The protective order generally covered “materials disclosed in 3 the course of the above-captioned lawsuit…” (ECF No. 101 at 1). Ronaldo designated the file 4 LVMPD had produced in response to his subpoena “confidential” under the protective order’s 5 terms and then produced LVMPD’s file to Mayorga. (ECF No. 161 at 6). Months later, The 6 Times sent LVMPD a public records request under the NPRA, asking for LVMPD’s investigatory 7 file into Mayorga’s allegations. (ECF No. 176 at 3). 8 Shortly after LVMPD received this request, the Court entered a report and 9 recommendation that Mayorga’s case be dismissed with prejudice. (ECF No. 143). In it, the 10 Court found that Mayorga’s counsel—Stovall—had requested documents from Football Leaks, a 11 “whistleblower portal” purportedly run by a man accused of cyber hacking. (Id. at 2-3). The 12 Football Leaks documents included attorney-client privileged communications which Ronaldo’s 13 former attorneys asserted were stolen in a hack of their law firm. (Id. at 2-3, 5-6). The Court 14 concluded that Stovall’s use of the Football Leaks documents—which documents he had also 15 provided to LVMPD—was improper. (Id.). Given the dangerous implications of allowing a 16 lawsuit premised almost entirely on stolen, unverifiable, and privileged documents to proceed, the 17 Court recommended that the Honorable District Judge Jennifer A. Dorsey enter case terminating 18 sanctions. (Id. at 22). 19 After the Court entered the report and recommendation, LVMPD reached out to 20 Ronaldo’s counsel, informing them of The Times’ NPRA request and that LVMPD intended to 21 release its file, redacting certain personal identifying information. (ECF No. 161 at 14). 22 Ronaldo’s counsel responded immediately, informing LVMPD of the report and 23 recommendation, and asserting that Ronaldo would seek a protective order. (Id. at 17). A flurry 24 of motion practice in this Court and state court followed. 25 Ronaldo moved for a protective order, asking this Court to prevent LVMPD from 26 disseminating any portion of its file. (ECF No. 161). Mayorga then moved for a preliminary 27 injunction, asking this Court to prevent LVMPD from releasing only the Football Leaks 1 (ECF No. 168). LVMPD filed a petition in the Eighth Judicial District Court in and for Clark 2 County asking the state court to decide the NPRA dispute. (ECF No. 177 at 9-27). A few days 3 later, LVMPD filed a “notice” of real party in interest, asking this Court to clarify whether the 4 protective order under which Ronaldo designated the file confidential barred LVMPD from 5 disseminating its file. (ECF No. 172). The Times moved to intervene before this Court, asserting 6 in large part that this Court has no jurisdiction to decide whether LVMPD can release its file 7 under the NPRA. (ECF No. 176). 8 The arguments evolved as Ronaldo, Mayorga, LVMPD, and The Times moved, 9 responded, and replied to each other. Eventually all participants to these motions agreed that the 10 Eighth Judicial District Court was the more appropriate forum to litigate over The Times’ NPRA 11 request. (ECF No. 169 at 1); (ECF No. 177 at 5-6); (ECF No. 190 at 5); (ECF No. 187). The 12 participants even circulated a stipulation to withdraw each participant’s pending motion in this 13 Court and re-raise them in front of the Eighth Judicial District Court. (ECF No. 190 at 11-20). 14 However, discussions over the stipulation were short lived, and broke down after the participants 15 disagreed over certain language. 1 (Id.). 16 Given the evolution of the participants’ arguments, two questions remain before the Court. 17 First, whether this Court’s protective order bars LVMPD from disseminating its file. Second, 18 whether the Eighth Judicial District Court is the appropriate forum to decide the dispute over The 19 Times’ NPRA request.

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Mayorga v. Ronaldo, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mayorga-v-ronaldo-nvd-2022.