Jerry Jones delays Cowboys press conference for paternity trial

Jerry Jones is not at training camp today in California for his beloved Dallas Cowboys, where the name brand owner annually holds court with the media. That face to face presser has been bumped from Wednesday to Saturday.

Instead, he’s been in a Texas federal court room since Monday in a trial he generated because he is suing two women, one of whom may be his daughter. One thing is all but guaranteed about the case: It’s doubtful this sensationalistic courtroom action will be captured in the upcoming Jones family documentary series scheduled for Netflix , a project that includes NFL Films as a backer.

The mother and daughter, Cynthia and Alexandra Davis, allegedly broke the confidentiality agreement the elder Davis signed with Jones in 1998. Jones, who bought the Cowboys in 1989, allegedly had an affair with Cynthia Davis that resulted in pregnancy. The agreement was in return for both mother and daughter’s silence, Jones would pay them, his lawsuit claims, to what amounted to $3.2 million before they went public. The agreement also said the younger Davis would not seek to determine if Jones is her father, a legal process she did launch in 2022. That effort is effectively stayed by the current case.

“Despite their release of claims and the above promises, Alexandra Davis (with Cynthia Davis’s assistance) publicly filed two lawsuits against Jones wherein she disclosed the Agreement and alleged that Jones is her father,” according to a summary of Jones’ and the Davis’ position in a court filing last week. “Jones now seeks to recover the damages, including the attorneys’ fees he has incurred and paid (and likely will incur) in defending these lawsuits that Alexandra Davis promised to never bring and Cynthia Davis promised to use her best efforts to prevent.”

Alexandra Davis’ main contention is that she was an infant at the time the settlement was signed so there is no way she could have consented to it.

“Davis was never a party to the Settlement Agreement, nor was she bound by the Settlement Agreement,” the court filing reads. “At the time the Settlement Agreement was executed, Davis was a minor. No ad litem, independent counsel, or court reviewed the Settlement Agreement.”An ad litem is a guardian appointed by the court to act in a legal matter for a minor.”

Jones’ response to that is that the younger Davis did not immediately commence the legal action upon learning of her alleged father, but instead waited several years.

“Alexandra Davis did not disaffirm the Agreement within a reasonable time, and not within one year, after reaching adulthood, 18 years of age. Or in the alternative, she did not disaffirm the Agreement within one year of her knowing the material terms of the Agreement.”

Whether Jones, who’s a billionaire many times over, would actually seek to recover what could be millions of dollars in legal fees from someone who may be his daughter is unclear. Perhaps he would be content with a decision enjoining the women from further pushing the allegations and pulling the paternity test case.

For her part, Cynthia Davis alleges Jones himself broke the confidentiality by telling people about it prior to the Davis’ going public.

According to the court filing, she “contends Jones told many people about his relationship to Alexandra Davis in violation of the agreement. Cynthia Davis alleges that if a binding agreement was executed, Cynthia Davis was excused from performance because Jones waived his rights to any confidentiality and released Cynthia Davis because Jones breached the agreement first.”

It’s unlikely whatever the outcome, the case will have any marked impact on the team or Jones standing in the NFL. The team is a family affair (pardon the pun) with his three children holding top posts at the team, and Jones having been married to his wife Gene since 1963. It is possible Alexandra Davis could make a claim on Jones’ estate when he dies, which is just one of the reasons he is fighting taking the paternity test.

The Cowboys are arguably the most valuable sports franchise globally, so even a small part of his estate would be a big payday.

A state judge ordered Jones in February to submit to a paternity test but that has not occurred yet.  Jones has denied he is Alexandra Davis’ father and his representatives have called the Davis’ action “extortion.”

On the first day of the trial Monday, the elder Davis testified she signed the 1998 agreement under duress. “ “I was scared not to. I felt I didn’t have any other choice,” she said according to the Texarkana Gazette . Her lawyer told the jury, “Mr. Jones is a bully, and he’s bullying his daughter in this lawsuit. This whole fiasco is because of Mr. Jones’ broken promises.”

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