Judge rules Jerry Jones' contract with mother of woman seeking paternity confirmation is 'valid'
A judge in Texas this week has ruled in favor of Jerry Jones and his lawyers by confirming the validity of the Cowboys owner’s 1998 contract with Arkansas woman Cynthia Davis regarding her daughter, Alexandra Davis. Davis will face the man she insists is her father in a U.S. District Court in Texarkana in two weeks, making the new ruling a key development in the defamation case.
Davis’ lawsuit, originally filed in March of 2022, follows an agreement between Jones and her mother, Cynthia, that the family would not identify the Texas businessman as her father. She allegedly received about $3.2 million from her mother’s agreement with Jones. The sum included four years of tuition at Southern Methodist University, trips, and about $70,000 for a Range Rover.
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.
Contract ‘valid’ in Jones/Davis defamation case
As far as the validity of the contract is concerned, the judge ruled that “Texas law is clear,” that parents or legal guardians can enter legal agreements on their child’s behalf as long as they cannot show that the child’s interest is “adverse” to their guardian’s interest before they turn 18. Davis argued that the agreement prohibiting her from establishing paternity was a violation of Texas public policy.
“It’s really shocking,” Davis’ attorney Jay Gray told the Dallas Morning News. “I respectfully disagree with ruling.”
“We think it supported the position we have been taking all along and the judge pointed out their position is not supported by any case law around the country,” Jones’ attorney Chip Babcock said.
Cowboys owner ordered to submit to paternity testing
After hearing from both sides in the case on Feb. 19, a Dallas County judge ruled that Jones must submit to testing to determine the paternity of Davis.
Jones’ attorneys, state Sen. Royce West, Levi McCathern and Charles Babcock, appealed a previous ruling against them. They argued that the Dallas Cowboys team owner had a right to privacy in this matter.
To try to avoid the paternity test, Jones’ lawyers 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.