DALLAS — A 25-year-old Congressional aide who grew up in North Texas has sued Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, alleging he is her biological father.
Attorneys for Alexandra Davis filed the lawsuit Thursday in Dallas County, saying that Jones and her mother had a relationship in the mid-1990s from which she was conceived. According to court documents, Jones and Davis’ mother, Cynthia Davis, reached a settlement to financially support the mother and child as long as they didn’t publicly identify Jones as her father.
Alexandra Davis is asking a court to find that she isn’t legally bound by the agreement between Jones and her mother if she were to attempt to legally establish that he is her father. She doesn’t want to be sued or lose her financial trusts. She is also seeking declaration from the court that such settlement agreements should be “unenforceable” in Texas.
The lawsuit was temporarily sealed Wednesday ahead of a hearing scheduled for March 31, court records show. The Dallas Morning News obtained the lawsuit through the county’s online court records system before the file was sealed.
Alexandra Davis and her attorney could not be reached for comment by phone or email Wednesday afternoon. Her mother declined to immediately comment.
Jones’ attorneys could not be reached for comment by phone or email Wednesday afternoon. Jim Wilkinson, a personal spokesman for Jones, declined to comment.
Jones made millions drilling for oil as a young man and is a real estate developer. The oil business set him up to buy the Cowboys in 1989 for $140 million. The enterprise is family-owned by Jones, his wife, Gene, and their three children. The Cowboys haven’t won a Super Bowl since 1996 but Forbes ranks them as the most valuable sports franchise in the world.
The lawsuit comes as the Cowboys faced recent controversy over a 2016 legal settlement involving four cheerleaders. It came to light last month that the Cowboys paid the cheerleaders a $2.4 million settlement in response to four cheerleaders’ allegations that the franchise’s public relations chief, Rich Dalrymple, filmed them as they changed clothes inside a locker room. Jones has said he takes the allegations seriously.
Cynthia and Alexandra Davis starred in the third and final season of Big Rich Texas, a reality show based in Dallas-Fort Worth that followed five wealthy women and their daughters. At the time, representatives for Cynthia Davis said she was living off a trust fund.
Lawsuit’s allegations
According to court documents, Cynthia Davis was married but estranged from her husband when she met Jones. She was working as a ticket counter agent for American Airlines at the airport in Little Rock, Ark., court documents said.
Jones “pursued” Cynthia Davis and the pair began a relationship, according to court documents. It’s unclear how long the relationship lasted.
Alexandra Davis was born on Dec. 16, 1996, and shortly afterward, Cynthia Davis and her husband filed for divorce. During the divorce proceedings, it was determined through genetic testing that Alexandra Davis was not the child of Cynthia Davis’ husband. He was not ordered to pay child support when the divorce was finalized, and Alexandra Davis did not have a legal father, court documents said.
After receiving the test results, Cynthia Davis told Jones that he was Alexandra Davis’ biological father, according to the lawsuit. According to court documents, Jones had told Cynthia Davis that he was not able to have children.
Jones and his wife married in 1963.
The lawsuit says that Jones and his lawyers negotiated a settlement with Cynthia Davis that would “exchange money for silence.” Jones had his friend and lawyer Donald Jack act on his behalf to help Cynthia Davis with her divorce proceedings, according to the lawsuit.
Jack declined to comment Wednesday afternoon.
About $27,000 was used to help Cynthia Davis with her divorce, court documents said. An additional $30,000 was given to her to continue negotiations “in good faith.” The lawsuit alleges that it was in Jones’ best interest for Cynthia Davis to finalize the divorce before he was legally declared or identified as Alexandra Davis’ father.
Jones and Cynthia Davis worked out a “deal” stating 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. Breaching the deal would result in financial support being cut off and Jones or Jack would sue.
A settlement agreement dated Aug. 14, 1998, listed Jack as the authorized agent for the “putative father,” which was Jones, court documents said. A “putative father” is a man whose relationship to a child has not been established, but he is alleged to be the child’s biological father.
In the agreement, the “putative father” denied paternity.
In exchange for confidentiality, a lump sum payment of $375,000 would be 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. The grantor of the trusts was Jack, which the lawsuit alleges was to hide Jones’ identity.
The lawsuit said that Jones barred Alexandra Davis, who was a 1-year-old at the time of the settlement, from ever seeking to legally establish paternity.
Fear of losing support
Alexandra Davis has spent her life concealing her father’s identity, and that Jones’ only role in her life is to “shun” her and “coerce her from ever disclosing his identity,” the lawsuit said.
Alexandra Davis grew up in the Dallas area and graduated from Southern Methodist University, according to court documents. Jones’ home is a few miles from the campus. Jones has been in contact with Cynthia Davis, but he and Alexandra Davis have never met, the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit said Alexandra Davis has lived in fear of losing financial support from Jones if she told anyone who her father was. The only time she has disclosed her father’s identity was when she had to obtain security clearance from the FBI to work in the White House for President Donald Trump, the lawsuit said. She currently works for U.S. Rep. Ronny Jackson, an Amarillo Republican, according to her LinkedIn profile.
It’s unclear why Alexandra Davis filed the lawsuit now. The lawsuit mentions health concerns of her mother.
Court documents said Cynthia Davis was subpoenaed to give a deposition in the divorce proceedings of Jones’ daughter, Charlotte Jones Anderson. Court documents for that case are also sealed.
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Staff writers Emily Caldwell and David Moore contributed to this report.
