Judge to rule next week on future of Gateway Church, Robert Morris defamation suit
A Dallas County judge will decide next week whether a $1 million defamation lawsuit against Gateway Church and its founding pastor Robert Morris will move forward.
Judge Emily Tobolowsky heard arguments Friday in the case filed by Cindy Clemishire, the woman who Morris abused in the 1908s, when she was a child. Clemishire's father is also listed as a plaintiff.
The defendants include the church, Morris, his wife Debbie and a group of current and former elders and staff.
Attorneys for the church and a group of current elders argued they were exempt from the suit under a doctrine called ecclesiastical abstention, which prevents courts from interfering in the operations and governance of a church.
The lawyer representing Clemishire argued that the actions involved were purely secular in nature and did not fall under the exemption.
Clemishire attended Friday's hearing along with state Rep. Jeff Leach of Collin County, whose law firm has been representing her.
Judge Tobolowsky said she would make a ruling by the middle of next week.
Morris pleaded guilty to lewd and indecent conduct
Clemishire accused Robert Morris of sexual abuse, starting when she was a 12-year-old girl in Oklahoma. Morris pleaded guilty to five counts of lewd and indecent conduct in an Oklahoma court on Oct. 2.
The defendants include Gateway Church, Robert and Debbie Morris, and current and former elders Thomas Miller, Tra Willbanks, Kevin Grove, Jeremy Carrasco, Kenneth Fambro, Gayland Lawshe, Dane Minor, and Steve Dulin. Lawrence Swicegood, who directed the church's communications team, and The Robert Morris Evangelistic Association are also named in the suit.
It alleges that the defendants made false statements in an effort to cover up the abuse.
On Monday, the Morrises joined the other defendants in filing a motion for them to be dropped from the case, arguing that the statute of limitations has expired.
"Plaintiffs failed to make a timely and sufficient request for correction or retraction from the Morrises," the filing said. "Therefore, plaintiffs are not entitled to maintain an action for defamation."
Other Gateway Church leaders accused
Current church leaders have said that four of the former elders, Thomas Miller, Jeremy Carasco, Kevin Grove, and Gayland Lawshe, were aware of the details involving Morris and Clemishire, who was 12 when the abuse began.
Morris is currently serving six months of a 10-year sentence in the Osage County Jail.
The church and Robert Morris also have two other cases pending. The first, in Tarrant County, is over the millions of dollars Morris claims the church owes him as part of a retirement agreement. There is also a federal class-action lawsuit filed by former members that accuses Gateway and Robert Morris of failing to honor promises to give 15% of donations to global missions and misleading congregants with assurances of refunds.