Left: Joshua Jeffords and wife Catherine Cuesta Jeffords during happier times. (Used with permission.) Right: Philadelphia Eagles defensive tackle Fletcher Cox pulls on his helmet during practice at the team’s NFL football training facility in Philadelphia, Thursday, Jan. 18, 2018. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
In November, we told you that a North Carolina man had filed a lawsuit against Eagles player Fletcher Cox, who the man claims had a torrid affair with his 29-year-old wife, allegedly sending her X-rated texts. Well, now the man has filed a lawsuit against her.
Used with permission.
Joshua Jeffords, a 34-year-old former Marine, has suedCatherine Cuesta Jeffords. The lawsuit, filed on Thursday morning, claims that his wife of three-and-a-half years violated North Carolina’s law against “marital misconduct” by having a sexual relationship with Cox, who turned 27 last month.Prior to the alleged affair, which reportedly began last April, Jeffords maintains that he and his wife had a “true marriage of love and affection.”
The suit asks the court to grant Jeffords what is known in North Carolina as a divorce from bed and board. Unlike an absolute divorce, which severs the legal matrimonial ties, a divorce from bed and board ends most of the rights and responsibilities of marriage, but you’re not single — you are not allowed to get married again. It’s more common in military families, and it can only be granted if you can show that your spouse wronged you in the marriage in a way that runs afoul of the law.
Meanwhile, the husband’s lawsuit against Cox is ongoing.
Left: A portion of the text messages that Eagles player Fletcher Cox allegedly sent to a married woman from North Carolina. (Image via court exhibit) Right: Fletcher Cox. (Jeffrey Beall/Wikimedia Commons)
Jeffords claims that the sexual relationship began when Cuesta Jeffords met Cox during a business trip to Philadelphia in April 2017. Once Cuesta Jeffords got back to North Carolina, alleges the suit, she and Cox continued the affair via text message.
According to the suit he filed in November, Jeffords confronted his wife and asked her to stop following Cox on Instagram. So what did she do? Jeffords alleges that she blocked him instead and thereafter moved to the Philadelphia area, where Cox owns a home.
“He basically ruined my life, because I thought I was gonna be with this woman forever,” Jeffords told ABC News back in November.
Used with permission.
North Carolina is one of only seven states that have “alienation of affection” laws, which allow for monetary damages for spouses whose marital partners are involved in adulterous relationships.
Cox has not publicly commented on the November suit. His attorneys were not immediately available for comment. Cuesta Jeffords could not be reached for comment.
