Lawsuit against Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones filed by former exotic dancer dismissed

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Jake Dean

Jerry Jones exits the Dallas Cowboy bus before the start of the groundbreaking of the Cowboy's headquarters and practice facility in Frisco.

Candace Carlisle

Staff Writer- Dallas Business Journal

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The lawsuit against Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones alleging the football club owner attempted to buy the silence of a former exotic dancer after sexually assaulting her more then five years ago was dismissed Thursday morning.

Last month, 27-year-old former exotic dancer Jana Weckerly filed an amended lawsuit claiming Jones attempted to buy her silence with regular payments over four years. The lawsuit was seeking more than $1 million in damages.

At the time of the original lawsuit, Jones' attorneys called the suit a "money grab," but haven't spoken much since State District Judge Dale Tillery in the 134th District Court in Dallas issued a gag order.

Now, Weckery's attorney, Thomas Bowers, has told the Dallas Morning News that, "Neither Jerry Jones nor the Cowboys organization has paid us any money."

"The fact that the Cowboys and the Joneses didn't pay Weckerly any money makes it an exceptionally agreed-upon judgment," said Dallas appellate lawyer Chad Ruback, who is not involved in the matter.

Thursday afternoon's scheduled hearing likely was to include a motion by the Cowboys and Jones seeking Weckerly and her lawyer to pay for all the incurred attorney's fees because the allegations were without merit or not supported by facts or law, Ruback added.

"This gave Weckerly and her attorney the ability to walk away," Ruback told me. "My thinking is for this case to settle without money changing hands, they were convinced the trial court was quite likely to dismiss the lawsuit and grant the motion for sanctions."

The amendment to the lawsuit — claiming the last payment was made in July 2013 — was argued to bring the incident within the five-year civil statute of limitations in Texas.

A phone calls placed to Weckerly's attorney, Thomas Bowers, was not immediately returned Thursday morning.

Jones' lawyer, Levi McCathern, who was also a co-defendant in the amended suit, told the Dallas Business Journal,"We are pleased with the court's judgment against Ms. Weckerly. Ms. Weckerly's allegations were false. This case is over."

The allegations involved incidents that the lawsuit said occurred five years ago at a Dallas hotel.

You can read the dismissal order here.

Candace covers commercial and residential real estate and sports business.