DALLAS — A lawsuit filed in Dallas County on March 3 alleges that Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones had a child with a woman in the mid-1990s and that he and the woman agreed to a settlement to financially support the woman as long as it was kept a secret.
A woman, now 25, said in a lawsuit that she is Jones’ daughter. She is suing Jones and asking a court to find that she isn’t legally bound by the settlement, which was made when she was about a year old, without being sued by Jones or losing her financial trusts, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit was temporarily sealed Wednesday ahead of a hearing scheduled for March 31. The Dallas Morning News obtained the lawsuit through the county’s online court records system before the file was sealed.
All parties named in the lawsuit declined to or could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
Here are five allegations made in the lawsuit:
Jones 'pursued' the mother
According to court documents, the child’s mother, Cynthia Davis, was working as a ticket counter agent for American Airlines at the airport in Little Rock, Ark., when she met Jones. She was married but estranged from her husband.
Jones “pursued” Cynthia Davis and the pair began a relationship, according to court documents, but it’s unclear how long the relationship lasted. Alexandra Davis was born on Dec. 16, 1996, the same year the Cowboys last won the Super Bowl.
Jones financially aided the mother with her divorce after the child was born, the lawsuit says
Cynthia Davis and her estranged husband filed for divorce shortly after Alexandra Davis was born. During the divorce proceedings, genetic testing revealed that Alexandra Davis was not the child of Cynthia Davis’ husband, and Cynthia Davis told Jones that he was Alexandra Davis’ biological father, according to the lawsuit.
According to the lawsuit, it was in Jones’ “best interest” for Cynthia Davis to finalize the divorce before he was legally declared as Alexandra Davis’ father. About $27,000 was used to help Cynthia Davis with her divorce, court documents said, and an additional $30,000 was given to her to continue negotiations “in good faith.”
Jones’ friend and lawyer Donald Jack acted on Jones’ behalf to help Cynthia Davis with her divorce proceedings, court documents said.
The settlement exchanges ‘money for silence,’ according to the lawsuit
A settlement agreement dated Aug. 14, 1998, listed Jack as the authorized agent for the “putative father,” which was Jones, court documents said. In the agreement, the “putative father” denied paternity.
The deal was made so that Jones would provide financial support for Cynthia and Alexandra Davis as long as they did not publicly reveal that he was Alexandra Davis’ father, court documents said.
The settlement would “exchange money for silence,” the lawsuit said. Breaching the deal would result in the loss of financial support and Jones or Jack would sue.
A lump sum payment of $375,000 was paid to Cynthia Davis once the settlement was executed, and two trusts were set up and funded by Jones for Alexandra Davis, court documents said. Alexandra Davis was to receive “certain monthly, annual and special funding” from the trusts until she turned 21, and yearly lump sums when she turned 24, 26 and 28.
Now 25, she is to receive two more yearly lump sum payments through the trusts, according to the lawsuit. It’s unclear how much money was in the trusts.
Jones and the woman suing him have never met
According to the lawsuit, Alexandra Davis grew up in North Texas and went to school at Southern Methodist University. Although Jones has been in contact with Cynthia Davis, Alexandra Davis and Jones have never met, court documents said.
The lawsuit said Jones’ only role in her life is to “shun” her and “coerce her from ever disclosing his identity.”
Alexandra Davis is not looking for monetary relief
The lawsuit said that Alexandra Davis seeking only non-monetary relief.
Because she was a child when the agreement was settled, Alexandra Davis is asking a court to find that she isn’t legally bound by the agreement if she, an adult child, were to attempt to legally establish that he is her father. She also doesn’t want to be sued or lose her financial trusts if she were to seek parentage.
She is also seeking a declaration from the court that settlement agreements like the one her mother and Jones agreed to should be “unenforceable” in Texas.
