Defamation suit against
Cowboys’ Jerry Jones
tossed again
Defamation suit against Cowboys’ Jerry
Jones tossed again
For the second time, a federal judge has
ruled out defamation allegations made
against Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry
Jones and numerous colleagues by a
woman who says she is the billionaire’s
daughter.
Alexandra Davis’ lawsuit was dismissed
on Wednesday by Federal Judge Robert
W. Schroeder III “with prejudice,” which
means it cannot be filed again. The case
was refiled by Davis’ attorneys in
November after Schroeder had dismissed
it in October of last year.
In March 2022, Davis—a 27-year-old
congressional aide—filed a lawsuit
against Jones in an attempt to be
recognized as his biological daughter.
The case is currently unresolved. That
same month, a separate defamation
lawsuit was filed, with Jones, his
longstanding personal attorney Donald P.
Jack, and the Jones family’s
communications consultant Jim
Wilkinson named as defendants.
Schroeder stated in his most recent
decision that the defendants’ claims
regarding Davis were largely accurate,
citing messages that “clearly show that
Plaintiff requested money from Jones in
2017, 2018, 2019, and 2021.”
“Based on these facts alone, or viewed in
combination with all the
communications within their possession,
it is not plausible that Defendants acted
with actual malice in characterizing
Plaintiff’s actions as a ‘shakedown
attempt’ that was motivated by money,”
the court stated in his seventeen-page
judgment.
Cowboys’ Jerry Jones
tossed again
Wilkinson stated that neither he nor
Jones would comment on the judge’s
decision right away. There was no way to
get through to Jack. Davis’ attorneys,
Andrew Bergman and Jay Gray, released
a statement saying they were
“disappointed in the ruling and intend to
appeal.”
Defamation suit against
Cowboys’ Jerry Jones tossed
again
In her defamation lawsuit from the
previous year, Davis claimed that Jones
and his proxies had conducted a public
campaign that disparaged Davis’s
reputation “based knowingly on false
statements and accusations.” It
referenced two articles by Don Van Natta
Jr. on ESPN and claimed that she was
described as a “extortionist” attempting
to “shake down” the Jones family in
remarks made in the report.
Rejecting the initial allegation, Schroeder
concluded that some of the purportedly
defamatory remarks were either genuine
or “not defamatory.” Davis, he further
decided, was a “limited public figure”
and had not proven actual malice, which
is a prerequisite for defamation lawsuits.
But the judge allowed Davis’ attorneys to
amend their complaint over remarks
made in one of the two ESPN stories
published March 31st, 2022.
Davis’ defamation lawsuit was the most
recent development in a bitter legal
battle that has been fought in the media
and in courts regarding the purported
reasons behind her 2022decision to
request recognition as Jones’
daughter.
Davis requested to be released from the
confidentiality agreement her mother
had signed when she was a baby in her
lawsuit to prove paternity. In February, a
Dallas judge maintained an earlier
decision requiring Jones to take a
paternity test.
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