Jerry Jones countersuit against woman claiming to be his daughter goes to trial

Alexandra Davis is a 27-year-old woman who filed a lawsuit against Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, saying that he is her father. In the lawsuit, she claimed that Jones “pursued” her mother, Cynthia Davis, who was married at the time. She also claimed that Jones had given her “hush money”, a term a judge has now deemed unusable in court, to never reveal that Alexandra was his daughter. In return, he paid her $375,000 and then would send a “certain monthly, annual, and special funding” from a trust until she turned 21 years old. After that she would receive lump sum payments at ages 24, 26, and 28.

Cynthia and Alexandra appeared on a reality TV show called “Big Rich Texas”, which follows wealthy Texas women and their daughters. Cynthia was labeled as a single mom living off of a “trust fund”.

Jones denied the claims and his lawyers called the lawsuit a monetary extortion attempt. As a result, Davis also sued Jones and three other defendants for defamation, saying that they enacted a “false and purposeful character assassination attack” on her. That suit sought a multimillion-dollar payout. Jones’ attorney said the allegations had no merit. That suit was partially dismissed in October, refiled in November, and dismissed again in March.

Davis decided to seek a paternity test, proving that Jones is the father. In February, a judge ruled that Jones is indeed required to take the paternity test. However, that’s been put on hold as Jones filed an amended complaint in May.

What is Jerry Jones’ countersuit against Alexandra Davis?

Now, Jones’ countersuit against Davis claims that both Alexandra and her mother Cynthia breached their “Settlement Agreement” that they agreed to in 1998. That agreement prevented them from “suing or supporting any suit to establish paternity” and to keep the details of the agreement confidential in exchange for millions of dollars for Alexandra throughout her “early childhood and adulthood”.

The original agreement states this:

“If Mother or Child, or any person on behalf of Child, brings or commences any kind of legal proceeding seeking to establish the paternity of Child . . . , Putative Father may, in his sole discretion, elect to terminate the Agreement and the Funding Trust and the Distribution Trust, or either of them, and enforce any and all remedies available to him at law or in equity. A breach of this provision shall be considered a breach of the entire Agreement.”

Jones says he abided by the agreement, but the Davises did not. Jones says he paid more than $3 million to the Davises, including the lump sums and monthly payments, parties, clothing, a Range Rover, education, trips, and rent for Davis.

As part of this trial, District Judge Robert W. Schroeder III has ruled that the settlement agreement cannot be referred to as “hush money”. The judge also ruled that all testimonies must not reference “other alleged children, other alleged settlement agreements, or other alleged character evidence about plaintiff and his family”. He also ruled that any reference to Davis’ initial defamation claims must be discussed with the judge ahead of time as the details are no longer relevant to Jones’ countersuit. Several documents could also be sealed and unavailable to the public.

Alexandra and Cynthia have said they will appeal the March dismissal of Alexandra’s defamation lawsuit, but the judge or jury must rule on the case before the appeal can be made.

Jerry Jones has been married to Gene since 1963. Together, they have three children - Stephen, Charlotte, and Jerry Jr. - who all work as top executives within the Cowboys organization.