The paternity lawsuit against Dallas Cowboy’s owner Jerry Jones has been unsealed and outlines accusations by Alexandra Davis that Jones is her biological father and has tried to keep her quiet about it.
The case is set for a non-jury trial on Nov. 7, according to a court order scheduling the trial.
The lawsuit seeks an advisory opinion saying that Davis is not bound by a deal Davis’ lawyers say her mother signed for financial support in exchange for a promise to never disclose Jones. The agreement, the lawsuit claims, requires Davis and her mother to never reveal that Jones is her father.
Davis, a 25-year-old aide to U.S. Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-Amarillo), says she has only ever revealed Jones as her father during an FBI security clearance check to work in former President Donald Trump’s White House, saying she was under oath during an interview with the FBI and had not choice but to identify Jones.
“On all forms during her life that have required her to identify her father she has consistently and sadly written, ‘N/A,’ “ the lawsuit claims.
The lawsuit mentions health concerns for Davis’ mother and says that she has feared losing financial support from Jones if she ever told anybody who her father is.
Jerry Jones’ lawyers respond
Jones’ lawyers claim in a legal response submitted to the court that all the allegations in the lawsuit are false and that the court does not have the power to release Davis from the settlement because it doesn’t exist. His attorneys demanded “strict proof” of every one of Davis’ claims.
His attorneys say in the legal response that the lawsuit “is submersed in hypothetical and contingent scenarios that are not justiciable because they have not occurred.”
Jones’ attorneys say in their legal response that Davis “delivered a draft of her lawsuit to Defendant [Jones] and, to borrow her phrase, asked whether he would like to ‘make a deal’ to ‘assure that he would not be publicly or privately identified and/or declared as Plaintiff’s father.’ “
His attorneys say in the response the lawsuit was filed when Jones said he wouldn’t pay and that Davis “is not entitled to the relief she requests, and the court does not have jurisdiction to grant it.”
Jones’ lawyers said the lawsuit was filed after Davis attempted to extort money from the Cowboys owner.
What does the lawsuit say?
Alexandra Davis says in the lawsuit she was born after her mother, Cynthia Davis Spencer, had an affair with Jones while working for American Airlines at the airport in Little Rock, Arkansas. Spencer was “pursued romantically” by Jones and had a relationship, Davis claims in the lawsuit.
During divorce proceedings, Spencer’s then-husband had a court-ordered paternity test conducted and found that Davis was not his biological child. In 1998 when the divorce was finalized, it included a finding that Spencer’s ex-husband was not Davis’ biological or legal father, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit claims that as soon as Spencer found out that her ex-husband was not Davis’ father, she told Jones he was the father. Jones told her he was “not biologically capable of impregnating a female,” according to the suit.
Spencer and Jones negotiated a settlement, which the lawsuit describes as “hush money,” in which Jones agreed to pay about $27,000 to Spencer to resolve the divorce. Another $30,000 was paid to continue negotiations in “good faith.”
When the settlement was finalized, Jones agreed to pay a lump sum of $375,000 for confidentiality and set up two trusts funded by Jones for Alexandra Davis, according to the lawsuit. Davis would receive “certain monthly, annual and special funding” from the trusts until she turned 21, after which she would receive annual lump sums at 24, 26 and 28 years old, according to the suit.
The suit says the trust was established under the name of Jones’ attorney and friend, Donald Jack, to hide Jones’ identity. The settlement included a requirement that then-1-year-old Davis and her mother never claim or mention that Jones was Davis’ father and prohibited both Spencer and Davis from suing Jones under the threat that the money would be cut off.
“The primary purpose of the arrangement was designed for Defendant Jones to maintain leverage and intimidation over Cynthia [Davis Spencer] to not only not disclose his identity, but to compel Cynthia to train Plaintiff from ever disclosing and/or identifying who her father was,” Davis’ attorneys wrote in the lawsuit.
The lawsuit seeks to end the requirement for Davis to keep quiet about the identity of her father.
Specifically, Davis’ attorneys are asking the court to void a paragraph in the agreement that says if Spencer, Davis “or any person on behalf of child,” tries to initiate a legal proceeding to establish Jones as Davis’ parent he can, “in his sole discretion,” end the agreement and any financial support or payments.
The suit argues the law does not allow Spencer to make this agreement for silence on the behalf of then-1-year-old Davis. She wants the court to declare she is not bound by this provision.
Davis also claims in the suit that she and Jones have never met.
Sides dispute motivations for lawsuit
Davis’ attorneys told ESPN in a statement March 10 that she isn’t looking for “fame or fortune.”
“Surely, anyone can understand this need of a child no matter what age to have the ability to say they have a father without the fear of reprisal,” Andrew Bergman and Jay K. Gray told ESPN in the joint statement.
Her attorneys said in the lawsuit that Jones’ only role in Davis’ life has been to “shun” and “coerce her from ever disclosing her identity.”
“To add incredible insult to injury, Plaintiff has had to spend her entire life hiding and concealing who her real father is,” the lawsuit says.
Jones’ attorneys dispute in his response submitted to the court the claim that Davis isn’t looking for money and accuse her of attempting to extort Jones. The response says the alleged extortion attempts “will be the subject of other litigation which has been filed or will be instituted shortly.”
“Plaintiff’s ‘let’s make a deal’ overtures were made at the same time Defendant and the Dallas Cowboys were targets of multiple monetary extortion attempts,” the response says.
The lawsuit says that Davis has “had to endure the endless public profiles of her father and siblings while forced to remain secret to everyone, including her closest confidants.”
The lawsuit does not say when or how Davis learned Jones is her father.
