A woman who claims Jerry Jones is her biological father has filed a defamation lawsuit against the owner of the Dallas Cowboys. Colleagues' efforts to portray her in public as a “blackmailer” were rejected by a judge on Wednesday.
The lawsuit sought millions of dollars in payments.
Alexandra Davis, a 27-year-old congressional aide, alleges in the lawsuit that Jones and a team of lawyers, media and marketing experts publicly portrayed her as a “shakedown artist” motivated by greed and money. He said he had concocted a plan to destroy her reputation. .
Cowboys spokesman James Wilkinson is also named as a defendant in the lawsuit. Wilkinson's employer, Trail Runners International. Jones' friend and lawyer Donald Jack Jr. And the Cowboys.
U.S. District Judge Robert Schroeder said in Wednesday's ruling that Davis “does not sufficiently allege that the defendant acted with actual malice.”
“We are not at all surprised that the claims against Mr. Jones and his co-defendants were denied,” Jones' attorney Levi McAthern said in a statement. dallas morning news. “These claims are false and had no merit to begin with. Unfortunately, one of the downsides of being a public figure is that the only purpose of lining yourself and your lawyers is to enrich yourself.” and become the target of frivolous lawsuits by people who want to do so.”
The lawsuit, first filed in March 2023 in U.S. District Court in Texarkana, was partially resolved because a judge said some of the allegedly defamatory statements about Davis were true or “not defamatory.” Rejected. He also ruled that Davis was a “qualified public figure,” which required proof that the defendant was acting with malice.
Davis' attorneys refiled an amended version of the lawsuit in November.
“We are disappointed in the verdict and intend to appeal, and we believe we will prevail,” Davis' attorneys Andrew Bergman and Jay Gray said in a statement. news. “Of course, this ruling does not affect the paternity case or Mr. Jones' genetic testing.”
Davis is also in the midst of a legal battle with Jones in Dallas County, where a judge ruled late last month that Jones would be required to undergo a DNA test to prove whether he is Davis' biological father and establish parentage. It was decided that there was.
Davis said his mother, Cynthia Spencer Davis, had a romantic relationship with Jones in the mid-1990s.
She said her mother and Jones made a deal when he was about a year old that the Davises would support him financially if he did not reveal that he was the father.
The defamation claim comes about a year after Davis sued Jones in Dallas County court, seeking to release her from an agreement between her father and her mother. Jones' attorney asked for the lawsuit to be dismissed as an “attempt to extort” even though it does not seek monetary damages.
Separately, Jones also faces a personal injury lawsuit filed in Dallas County by a woman who claims she was sexually assaulted at AT&T Stadium in 2018. The lawsuit was first filed in 2020, then dismissed and reinstated, but was scheduled to go to a jury trial. It was scheduled for this month, but was rescheduled to March 3rd.
