Jerry Jones lawsuit: Judge dismisses Alexandra Davis' defamation suit against Cowboys owner

Jerry Jones has been fighting a defamation suit by Alexandra Davis and a Texas federal judge dismissed it today. Davis, who claims to be Jones' daughter, had alleged that the Cowboys owner, along with Don Jack and Jim Wilkinson, had "initiated a deliberate plan" to portray her as "an 'extortionist' and a 'shakedown artist.'" Jack is Jones' persona lawyer and Wilkinson is a communications consultant for the Jones family.

Judge Robert W. Schroeder III dismissed the suit by Alexandra Davis, a 26-year old congressional aide, against Jerry Jones that she had filed in March 2023. In his order dismissing the lawsuit, the judge determined that Davis qualified as a "limited public figure" based on which she failed to represent a valid claim of actual malice, a requirement under defamation law. He also concluded that some of the alleged defamatory statements about her were either true or were "not defamatory."

Judge Schroeder also dismissed part of Alexadra Davis' lawsuit against Jerry Jones with prejudice. But he gave her and her lawyers the opportunity to argue that the defendants had acted with actual malice in comments in published articles and to argue accordingly.

Davis' lawyer Andrew Bergman said, as reported by ESPN,

"We are amending our pleading and we are pleased that the case is moving forward."

He has 21 days to do so.

Original lawsuit by Alexandra Davis lodged against Jerry Jones in March 2022

A year before the defamation lawsuit, Alexandra Davis had filed a suit alleging seeking to establish Jerry Jones' paternity to her. The defamation accusations stemmed from public comments in relation to that. She had alleged in the original lawsuit that that he had paid her $375,000 and set up two trusts to conceal that he was her biological father.

Alexandra Davis also asked that she be released from the confidentiality agreement her mother agreed to when she was a baby. In December last year, the court ordered Jones to submit to a paternity test without further delay.

Complicating matters further are counter allegations that the lawsuit is motivated by financial considerations. Wilkinson has previously claimed that Bergman told one of Jerry Jones' lawyer,

"If you want this just to go away, it's going to cost you Zeke or Dak money."

The reference here is to the contracts of Ezekiel Elliott, who is currently with the New England Patriots but was previously with Dallas, and starting Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott. Bergman has refuted these allegations and claimed to ESPN that he has never asked for a single dollar to settle the case.