The woman suing Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones just lost a key procedural fight. Attorneys representing her, who claimed Jones forcibly kissed her at an after-game event, failed to show that the judge overseeing her civil case is biased against her.

According to The Dallas Morning News, a judge has rejected an attempt to remove the judge overseeing his sexual misconduct lawsuit, ruling that the woman’s legal team couldn’t back up their bias claims.

Former appellate judge Erin Nowell handed down that decision on Tuesday, three weeks after a hearing on the recusal request. But this fight over who sits on the bench isn’t over.

Thomas Bowers III, the woman’s lead attorney, says he’s already filed a fresh recusal motion, this time zeroing in on a narrower claim that Judge Aiesha Redmond’s staff reached out to a social media commentator following the case to give her a heads-up about a hearing and offer help setting up her recording equipment.

Jones’ attorney, Levi McCathern, wasted no time celebrating the ruling.

“This recusal motion had no basis in fact or law,” McCathern wrote in a text to The Dallas Morning News. “It was another delay tactic in a case that’s been full of them. We’re glad the judge saw through it, and hopefully this finally gets the case back on track.”

McCathern has also accused the woman’s legal team of sitting on documents, photos, and communications they were supposed to hand over to the defense, which is a vital legal procedure.

The lawsuit from 2020 claims that the owner of the Cowboys, Jones, forcibly grabbed and kissed her during a celebration after a Cowboys game at AT&T Stadium in 2018, and she’s asking for more than $1 million in damages. She says the moment was witnessed by at least one coach and several players, though Jones has flatly denied it happened, calling the accusations malicious and hurtful in court filings.

He doubled down again on his weekly radio spot.

“And it just is a case of trying to, in my mind, get money that you don’t deserve,” Jones said on 105.3 The Fan (KRLD-FM).

Nowell wasn’t convinced, saying the legal team hadn’t shown actual bias or prejudice.

While this is a huge win for Jones, he is continuing to attack the woman’s lawyers with a case of his own against them.

Jerry Jones’ team seeks penalties against accuser’s lawyers

Jerry Jones’ legal team isn’t just defending him anymore; they’re after the lawyers representing the woman. Earlier this month, his attorneys asked a judge to sanction the lawyers representing the woman suing him over an alleged sexual assault, arguing the case amounts to nothing more than a baseless claim.

Lead attorney Levi McCathern went further, calling the lawsuit a cash grab dressed up as a legal claim, and he brought receipts to make that case.

At the hearing last year, McCathern walked the court through a set of photos taken the night in question. One shows the woman and her grandson posing with Jones. Another, taken roughly two and a half minutes later, shows them with former linebacker Jaylon Smith. That timing matters because the lawsuit claims the alleged assault happened in between those two photos.

McCathern zeroed in on the second picture, arguing both the woman and her grandson looked genuinely happy, which he says clashes with earlier filings describing them as visibly shaken right after the incident.

He also poked holes in the woman’s own account, noting she couldn’t clearly recall how or where Jones allegedly touched her. Beyond that, McCathern brought up statements from the photographer and nearby security staff, none of whom said they saw anything inappropriate.

Add in testimony from Jason Garrett and Ezekiel Elliott, both of whom were in the room and said they saw nothing, and McCathern argued it simply wouldn’t have been possible for something like this to happen unnoticed in a crowded space.