A Dallas County judge should soon rule on whether Dallas Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones will be required to complete a paternity test to prove if he is the father of a 27-year-old woman who sued him in 2022.
A roughly hourlong hearing took place Monday morning in the George Allen Courts Building in downtown Dallas, where lawyers for Jones and the woman argued over whether the woman has a presumed father. Jones’ attorneys also called the proposed genetic testing “an invasion of privacy.”
The Dallas Morning News broke the story about the lawsuit filed March 3, 2022, by Alexandra Davis, who alleged that she was conceived when Jones and her mother had a relationship in the mid-1990s. According to court documents, Jones and Davis’ mother, Cynthia Davis, reached a settlement in which Jones agreed to financially support them so long as they didn’t publicly identify Jones as Alexandra Davis’ father.
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The lawsuit sought to have a court declare that Alexandra Davis wasn’t bound by that agreement, but she later dropped that lawsuit and instead sought testing to prove Jones is her father.
A judge previously ruled Jones was subject to genetic testing in late December 2022. His lawyers promptly appealed.
Jones’ attorneys, state Sen. Royce West, Levi McCathern and Charles “Chip” Babcock, argued Davis has a presumed father, who is the man her mother was married to when she was born, therefore preventing the case against Jones from proceeding.
His attorneys also said the government does not have the right to subject someone to genetic testing unless there is a “good reason,” adding that “curiosity” is not grounds for Davis to establish parentage. Jones’ lawyers have repeatedly argued in previous hearings and court filings that Davis’ lawsuit is one of many “monetary extortion attempts.” Court filings say Davis has received about $3.2 million from her mother’s agreement with Jones, including four years of tuition at Southern Methodist University, trips around the world and about $70,000 for a Range Rover.
Meanwhile, Davis’ attorneys Kris Hayes and Andrew Bergman cited a document from proceedings in Arkansas that state “in plain and apparent words” that Davis is not the child of her mother’s now ex-husband.
Hayes said because Davis therefore has no presumed father, Jones has only two options to move the case forward.
“Once that burden has been met, the only thing they can do is acknowledge paternity or agree to take the paternity test,” Hayes said.
At the conclusion of the hearing, Judge Sandra Jackson said she would review the evidence and arguments presented, but did not disclose a timeline for her decision.
Jones is also in the midst of another legal battle with Alexandra Davis in a U.S. district court. She sued him for defamation in March before the lawsuit was partially dismissed in October and refiled in November. There was a hearing in a federal court in Texarkana where defense attorneys asked the judge to dismiss the lawsuit a second time. No ruling had been made as of Monday morning.
A jury trial is also looming in a personal injury lawsuit against Jones in which a woman accused him of sexually assaulting her at AT&T Stadium in 2018. Jones has denied those allegations.