TEXARKANA, Texas — Jury selection for a civil suit filed by Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones against the woman claiming to be his daughter has been scheduled to begin this month, court records show.
A court order shows jury selection was pushed up to begin at 9 a.m. on July 19. The trial will then commence at 9 a.m. on July 22 in the U.S. District Court in Texarkana.
The suit is a counterclaim filed against Alexandra Davis, as well as her mother Cynthia Davis-Spencer. It accuses the two of violating a contract they entered into with Jones in 1998.
This comes after Davis brought forth a defamation suit against Jones in which she claimed the Cowboys owner "falsely painted her as an 'extortionist'" who was trying to "'shake down' the Jones family for money" after she claimed Jones was her biological father. That case was dismissed by a judge in March.
Jones' countersuit, and the alleged 1998 agreement attached to it, claims that Davis was contractually prohibited from suing Jones to establish paternity and was required to keep the facts and terms of their agreement confidential.
"In exchange, [Davis] received as consideration millions of dollars from early childhood through adulthood," the suit states.
The suit accuses Davis and her mother of wanting more than they were entitled to according to the terms of their 1998 agreement, and claims that they began a smear campaign against Jones in late 2021 by threatening to disclose -- and then actually disclosing -- information from the confidential settlement.
"As the direct -- and intended -- result of their disclosures, articles discussing the Settlement Agreement and allegations about Jones's private life flooded the Internet," the suit states.
According to the suit, Davis-Spencer testified during divorce proceedings with her husband after Davis' birth on Dec. 16, 1996, that her husband was Davis' biological father. However, the lawsuit claims that Spencer would later begin to claim that Jones was Davis' biological father, and that Spencer's ex-husband would later claim he was not Davis' father.
Jones continues to deny he is Davis' father.
According to court filings, Davis-Spencer and Jones entered into the contract this back-and-forth all stems from on Aug. 14, 1998. Per the terms of the agreement, which are attached to the current suit, Jones would reimburse Davis-Spencer for medical expenses relating to the pregnancy and would financially support Davis into early adulthood. The alleged contract further details that Jones gave Davis-Spencer a lump-sum payment of $375,000, and also established two trusts for Davis' care -- a funding trust for monthly, annual and special contributions, as well as a distribution trust providing funding for Davis from childhood until she was 21. Under the alleged agreement, Davis would also continue receiving financial support until the ages of 24, 26 and 28, so long as the contract was not violated.
The suit claims that Davis received 230 separate payments from Jones throughout her childhood, the combined total of which amounted to about $1.9 million. Separate from that, the suit also claims that Jones bought Davis a Range Rover worth more than $70,000, paid for a "Sweet 16" birthday party worth more than $33,000 and also paid for Davis' entire college tuition and multiple vacations.
The suit further states that, one month before Davis' monthly trust distributions were scheduled to end on her 21st birthday, she met with an attorney for Jones, wanting Jones to pay her more money than he was obligated to under the terms of the alleged agreement. Jones reportedly didn't agree to that demand, and later that same year, Jones discovered Davis had disclosed information regarding the agreement to a third party.
"These actions, disclosure, and statements constitute material breaches of Mrs. Spencer's confidentiality obligations under the Settlement Agreement," the suit states.
The suit alleges that the parties' agreement was further breached in March 2022 when Davis filed her initial lawsuit against Jones, publicly alleged Jones was her father and released several statements to the media disclosing facts from their alleged agreement.
As part of the latest filing, Jones is requesting a declaration from the court that Spencer must continue to abide by the terms of their initial agreement. He also asks that all his attorneys' fees be paid for, as well as the costs of the suit and any other relief he may be entitled to.