The Dallas Cowboys and owner Jerry Jones settled a sexual-assault claim by an Oklahoma woman who sued in September.
An agreed judgment signed by state District Judge Dale Tillery was entered in a Dallas court granting Jones’s and the Dallas Cowboys football club’s request to dismiss the lawsuit, without objection from the woman.
“Neither Jerry Jones nor the Cowboys have paid us any money,” Thomas Bowers III, attorney for plaintiff Jana Weckerly, said in an interview. “A defense motion to dismiss had been granted by the judge in the case and we don’t contest the judgment entered by the court.”
Bowers declined to answer further questions, “That’s all I can say,” he said.
According to the judge’s order, all parties were forbidden to discuss the case with the media and disclose or publicize any documents filed in court.
Weckerly, 27, of Ardmore, Okla., sued claiming Jones sexually assaulted her in 2009 and intimidated and threatened her not to report the attack to police. The Cowboys, instead of reporting the crime, conspired to cover it up, she said in the lawsuit.
Forced Payments
Weckerly was “coerced through forced payments and threats by defendants to go against her own free will and delay filing of this suit,” she said in the filing. In an amended version of the lawsuit Weckerly said she accepted “the money and payments through 2013.”
She sought more than $1 million in damages.
Levi McCathern II, attorney for Jones and Cowboys, said in an e-mailed statement, “We are pleased with the court’s judgment against Ms. Weckerly. Ms. Weckerly’s allegations were false. This case is over.”
A message posted on the court docket this morning said the case was settled in mediation.
Hearings on Jones’s request to dismiss the case, seal it and bring sanctions against Bowers had been scheduled for later today.
McCathern had argued in court filings that the lawsuit was filed too late because more than five years elapsed since the alleged assault.
McCathern said when the suit was filed that it was a “shakedown” and “nothing more than an attempt to embarrass and extort Jerry Jones.”
Jones is the owner and general manager of the Cowboys franchise, which has has gone 5-1 to start the 2014-2015 National Football League season.
The case is Weckerly v. Jones, DC-14-10061, Dallas County Court (Dallas).
Topics Lawsuits
Was this article valuable?
Here are more articles you may enjoy.
Ryan Specialty Announces Succession Plan: Pat Ryan to Exec Chair, Turner to Be CEO 
Guidance and Insurance Implications for the CDK Global Cyberattack 
As Rates Rise, Majority of Homeowners Say Insurance Industry Is in Crisis: Survey 
Changes at American Coastal Insurance After Florida OIR Action on ‘No-Fly List’ 
