During a jury trial in Texarkana, Texas, Tuesday in which a 27-year-old woman contended Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones is her father and where Jones has countersued, U.S. District Judge Robert W. Schroeder announced the litigation was dismissed as the parties reached a settlement. He then thanked the jurors and released them from service in a trial that was in its second day.
Alexandra Davis had sued Jerry Jones and the Cowboys for defamation, while Jones countersued Davis and her mother, Cynthia Davis-Spencer, for breach of contract. Davis separately filed a parentage action in a Dallas County court, a case that is also resolved through the settlement.
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Davis insisted Jones and his colleagues had “initiated a deliberate plan” to frame her as “an extortionist” and a “shakedown artist.” She maintained the defendants “publicly smeared my reputation and intentions.” when “in reality, I am a daughter who simply wants to acknowledge her [alleged] father without fear of retribution.”
Jones, meanwhile, denied the allegation and argued that on Aug. 14, 1998, he and Davis-Spencer signed a settlement agreement that was on behalf of Davis-Spencer and Davis. The settlement, as Jones has described in court documents, was a “binding contract to resolve the paternity dispute.”
In exchange for Davis receiving “millions of dollars from early childhood through adulthood”—court documents indicate the amount was in the ballpark of $3 million—the parties agreed to “maintain confidentiality regarding the facts” and that Davis would be “barred from suing Jones to establish paternity.”
The settlement arrived before Jones had to take the witness stand. The development is a reminder that even during a trial, the parties can find common ground. While the Jones-Davis settlement terms are not disclosed, they presumably agreed to a financial exchange for the release of their legal claims against the other.
As Sportico detailed in its series on NFL succession, legal disputes involving children and siblings can complicate how NFL teams are passed within families.
Jones, 81, has been the Cowboys owner since 1989. He and his wife, Eugenia, have three children.
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