A Dallas County judge will soon make a ruling on whether Dallas Cowboys team owner and general manager Jerry Jones must submit to paternity testing amid an ongoing lawsuit brought by his alleged biological daughter, Alexander Davis. The judge heard arguments from lawyers on both sides on Monday during which Jones’ attorneys claimed the 81-year-old father of three should not have his “privacy invaded” for the sake of “curiosity.”
Jones’ attorneys, state Sen. Royce West, Levi McCathern and Charles Babcock, also argued that the 27-year-old woman has a presumed father – the man who was married to her mother when she was born. However, Davis’ attorneys, Kris Hayes and Andrew Bergman, cited a court document from Arkansas that states “in plain and apparent words” that her mother’s husband is not her biological father.
Davis’ lawsuit, originally filed in March of 2022, follows an agreement between Jones and her mother, Cynthia Davis, that the family would not identify the Cowboys owner as her father. She allegedly received about $3.2 million from her mother’s agreement with Jones, including four years of tuition at Southern Methodist University, trips around the world and about $70,000 for a Range Rover. A judge has already ruled that Jones must submit to testing, however, his lawyers appealed.
Davis moving ahead with defamation suit
In a separate defamation suit, Davis claims that Jones “initiated a deliberate plan” to portray her as “an ‘extortionist’ and a ‘shakedown artist’” after she initiated a lawsuit to prove that the business magnate is her biological father.
The judge, Judge Robert W. Schroeder III, concluded that the comments made were either true or “not defamatory,” according to ESPN‘s Don Van Natta Jr. He also ruled that Davis is a “limited public figure,” which means Jones would have had to trigger the higher “actual malice” standard to prove defamation liability against Davis.
Jones seeks delay in start of jury trial
Jones and his lawyers are seeking a delay to the start of his sexual assault lawsuit trial, the Dallas Morning News reported on Tuesday. The jury trial, which is currently scheduled for March 18th of this year, will hear the case being presented against Jones, the Dallas Cowboys Football Club and the National Football League by a woman who alleges the 81-year-old kissed her and “forcibly groped” her in 2018.
The NFL team owner’s lawyers have filed for a delay on the grounds of “conducting formal discovery.” They’d like the jury trial to begin no sooner than March 3, 2025, which is more than a year from now and more than five years after the personal injury lawsuit was filed in 2020.
Although the case was previously dismissed, an appellate court brought the case back in February of 2023 after the complainant “made a good faith attempt to amend her pleadings in response to the court’s special exceptions order.” The appeal on Jones’ behalf went through to the court in May, according to the latest court documents.
The woman, J.G., is seeking damages due to “severe emotional distress,” “psychological pain and suffering” and for medical expenses.
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