A Texas woman who claims to be NFL owner Jerry Jones’ daughter is suing him for defamation in a Texarkana federal court.
In a lawsuit filed on Monday, Alexandra Davis claims that the Dallas Cowboys owner and two others “initiated a deliberate plan” to portray the billionaire’s “own daughter … as an ‘extortionist’ and a ‘shakedown artist’ whose motivation was money and greed,” ESPN reported.
Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones looks on before a game against the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Divisional Playoff game at Levi’s Stadium on January 22, 2023, in Santa Clara, California. (Lachlan Cunningham/Getty Images)
Davis, a 26-year-old congressional aide, filed a lawsuit last year attempting to force Jones to recognize her as his daughter by claiming that the NFL owner paid her $375,000 and set up a pair of trusts to keep her quiet about her claims of a paternal relationship. But during that lawsuit, Davis now alleges that Jones and several others engaged in a smear campaign against her and made comments “based knowingly on false statements and accusations.”
In her latest suit, Davis names Jones as well as the NFL owner’s attorney, Donald T. Jack Jr., and Jones’ outside communications consultant, Jim Wilkinson.
“Not once did Defendant Jones or any of his agents ever deny that Plaintiff was Defendant Jones’ daughter,” Davis’ lawsuit says. “Instead, Defendant Jones chose the avenue of calling his own daughter an ‘extortionist’ merely to make his own public image less despicable by attempting to discredit Plaintiff’s reputation and character in the public eye.”
A Texas court of appeals has ordered Jones to supply a DNA test to settle Davis’ paternity claims by May 29. Davis claims Jones impregnated her mother, Cynthia Spencer Davis, in 1995. They allegedly met when Davis was an American Airlines ticket counter worker in Little Rock, Arkansas.
Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones looks on before a game against the Houston Texans at AT&T Stadium on December 11, 2022, in Arlington, Texas. (Tom Pennington/Getty Images)
“Rather than acknowledging his child, or even taking the opportunity to get to know his child, my father, and his associates have publicly smeared my reputation and intentions,” Davis told WFAA in the statement. “I have been falsely accused of a ‘shakedown’ and ‘extortion.’ In reality, I am a daughter who simply wants to acknowledge her father without fear of retribution. I will not stand by and let my father’s actions or words define me or my future.”
Levi G. McCathern II, one of Jones’ lawyers, claimed that one of Davis’ attorneys told him that if Jones wanted the lawsuits to go away, they’d have to pay up. Davis’ lawyer, Andrew Bergman, disputes the claims.
Davis is seeking an unspecified amount in actual and punitive damages in her latest filing.
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