Exclusive Details: Jane Doe Accuses Cowboys Owner Jerry Jones Of Sexually Assaulting Her In Front of Cowboys Players, Pushes For A Trial
Amy Dash
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A civil plaintiff is gearing up for an upcoming appeal and continuing to fight Cowboys owner Jerry Jones in court, after accusing him of sexually assaulting her in a case that has largely slipped under the radar.
The woman chose to file under a pseudonym to reportedly minimize the risk of attracting media attention, according to her attorney.
In the lawsuit, Jane Doe accused Jones of forcibly kissing her on the mouth without her consent on or about September 16, 2018 in the Tom Landry Room at AT&T Stadium. She also accused Jones of sticking his tongue in her mouth, and forcibly grabbing and groping her. In court papers, Doe says the room was full of witnesses when the alleged assault happened, and that she believes the people in the room allegedly included former Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett, running back Ezekiel Elliott, Tyrone Crawford, Tyron Smith and other prominent Cowboys players.
In an alleged list of “witnesses,”Doe also named Cowboys’ defensive end Demarcus Lawrence, and Eugenia Jones, Jerry Jones’ wife.
Doe claims the alleged incident caused her “severe injuries”, “emotional distress,” “psychological pain and suffering,” and “medical expenses,” among other allegations of damages.
“Plaintiff has nightmares about what Jerry Jones did to her,” reads the complaint. “She has trouble focusing and completing day to day tasks at work and at home. Plaintiff gets nervous around men and has trouble being alone with men. Plaintiff cries often because of what Defendant Jerry Jones did to her and does not want any other woman to experience such assaults.”
The complaint also claims that the Plaintiff is continuing to see a doctor for treatment and experiences headaches, dizziness, extreme sadness, night sweats, panic attacks, nausea, depression, PTSD, crying spells and other mental and physical problems as a result of the alleged incident.
“On information and belief, Defendant Jerry Jones has a sleazy history of allegedly sexually assaulting and assaulting females and it appears that both the Cowboys and NFL have turned a blind eye to said illegal behavior over the years,” her complaint reads.
In court papers filed in response to the suit, attorneys for the Cowboys owner called the allegations “conclusory and vague,” and said they “lacked any factual support.” Jones’ attorneys claimed Doe sued him “in hopes to garner media attention to force a settlement,” calling the allegations, “false.”
“Defendants are still in the dark over a year after this case was originally filed on who the Plaintiff is or what alleged incident she is referring to,” reads a motion by Jones’ attorneys, who claim that Doe was required to publicly reveal her name and did not comply with a Court Order.
Doe, who is represented by attorney Thomas Bowers, III, also sued the NFL and the Dallas Cowboys, accusing the entities of allegedly failing to supervise and stop Jones, allegedly tampering with criminal evidence and allegedly threatening victims and witnesses to deter criminal complaints, among other accusations.
The complaint accuses the NFL and Cowboys of being “criminally complicit” and “fostering an environment and culture where abuse of females such as Plaintiff could flourish and in which it was clearly understood that there was no accountability for such criminal acts toward females.”
“Defendants knew of his problems with womanizing,” the lawsuit continues, referring to Jones. “Yet, he was still retained in a position of trust, confidence and authority as president in direct contact with females when it knew or should have known of his dangerous sexual propensities.”
Doe asked the court to award her monetary damages in excess of one million dollars.
The case was initially filed in September of 2020. After a nearly year and a half long litigation, the case was dismissed in February of 2022, after Jones’ attorneys won a motion to dismiss on special exceptions, arguing in part, that Doe’s failure to reveal her identity made it too difficult to defend the case.
Doe appears to have later revealed her identity to Jones’ attorneys as part of a confidential settlement offer.
Internal and confidential emails exchanged between attorneys representing Doe and Jones show that Doe’s attorneys made a demand for a settlement in January of 2022 and requested an undisclosed amount that would achieve the “full and final settlement of all claims.”
The emails also indicate that Doe’s attorney wanted a protective order in place before releasing her name to Jones’ attorneys but later decided that to “streamline things”, he would send her name to Jones’ attorneys confidentially as part of the settlement offer. It does not appear that offer was accepted, as litigation is ongoing.
Jones’ attorneys also won a motion to quash Doe’s proposed deposition of Jones, which was requested “in the middle of the National Football League playoffs….making it impossible for Defendant Jones to even be available,” according to his attorneys.
However, despite the series of legal setbacks, Doe is apparently refusing to give up and has asked the Judge to reconsider her case or grant her a new trial. The case appears to still be open and gearing up for a court date on December 5th of this year in District Court.
The case has gotten little to no mainstream media attention since being publicly filed two years ago, which is surprising considering it involves Jones. Litigation has been ongoing since then. The suit was recently mentioned on Twitter by attorney Stephanie Weissenburger who noted that an appeal has also been filed. Court records show that Doe appealed the judgment back in March, just weeks after her claims were dismissed, and both sides have since submitted their appellate briefs. Oral arguments are slated for November 16th in the Court of Appeals, Fifth District of Texas at Dallas.
Doe says that she deserves a right to a trial by jury, calling the dismissal a “death penalty sanction without due process.”
Jones was previously accused of sexually assaulting another woman, named Jana Weckerly, back in 2009. Weckerly later filed a lawsuit claiming Jones touched her butt and breasts, “forcibly” kissed her without consent and forced her to watch him receive oral sex, among other allegations. Weckerly of Ardmore, Oklahoma, also claimed she took racy photos of Jones, that were later leaked on the Internet back in 2014. Weckerly accused Jones of threatening, bullying and intimidating her into staying quiet and claimed he paid her hush money from 2009 through 2013 to allegedly stop her from suing him. Jones’ attorneys denied all of the allegations, calling them a “money grab” and “completely false.”
The case was settled but Weckerly reportedly did not receive money from Jones, according to her attorney.
At the time, Weckerly was also represented by Thomas Bowers, the same attorney representing Jane Doe in the latest sexual assault allegation. Back in 2014, Jones’ attorneys filed a motion for sanctions against Bowers accusing him of filing a frivolous lawsuit for Weckerly “to extort a settlement.”
Weckerly’s suit was ultimately dismissed because it was filed too late and the statute of limitations had tolled. Bowers blamed the late filing on Jones allegedly paying his client “hush money.”
“My client was intimidated into keeping quiet or else, bullied into believing she would be in trouble,” Bowers told the Judge at the time. “She was also paid money, your honor, that she did not ask for. She was also paid money to keep from going to police and not to file her lawsuit. She did what she was told.”
“The legal complaint is unsupported by facts or evidence of any kind,” Jones’ attorneys argued during the 2014 litigation. “This is nothing more than an attempt to embarrass and extort Jerry Jones. This is a shakedown by a lawyer who is a solo practitioner just trying to make a name for himself. The alleged incidents would have been more than five years old.”
Contrary to the present case, Bowers did not contest the judgment dismissing Weckerly’s case. In the latest suit, it appears that Jane Doe and Bowers are continuing to press on in hopes of reviving her claims, which are still timely.
The Cowboys recently had to respond to another scandalous headline when it was reported that the team had paid a confidential settlement of $2.4 million dollars to four members of its cheerleading squad. The women accused former team executive Rich Dalrymple of spying on them while they were changing in the locker room in 2015. Dalrymple denied the allegations. The organization claimed it launched its own internal investigation into the matter but did not find wrongdoing. The accusations largely remained out of the press until recently. At the time news broke, Jones spoke out on the matter saying that he wanted to show the cheerleaders how seriously he took their allegations and decided it was in the best interests of the women and the fans to settle things confidentially.
Jones was trending in the headlines this past week after a bombshell report was published by ESPN claiming that Dan Snyder was compiling “dirt” on other NFL owners, including Jones. Snyder’s attorney called the allegations “categorically untrue” and part of a “well-funded, two-year misinformation campaign to coerce the sale of the team, which will continue to be unsuccessful.”
Jones denied that there was tension between the two owners, telling Shan & RJ on Audacy’s 105.3 The Fan that anyone who wanted to spy on his conversations should “get in line.”
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