Gateway Church insurance company seeks removal from defamation lawsuit claims
An insurance company that provides liability coverage for Gateway Church and its leaders has asked a federal court in Dallas to remove itself from having to pay coverage for a $1 million defamation lawsuit filed by the woman whom founding pastor Robert Morris abused four decades ago.
Wisconsin-based Church Mutual Insurance Company filed the complaint for declaratory judgment on Nov. 6.
In the filing, Church Mutual said the policies the church purchased, which ran from Dec. 31, 2023, to Dec. 31, 2025, came far after the abuse defendant Cindy Clemishire experienced starting in 1982.
Clemishire and her father filed suit against Gateway, Robert Morris, his wife Debbie and a group of former and current elders and staff in July of this year. The Clemishires claim they were defamed by the actions and statements of what they called knowingly false statements the church made when the abuse became public.
Morris pleads guilty
Morris pleaded guilty on Oct. 2 in Oklahoma to five counts of lewd and indecent conduct with Clemishire. He was sentenced to six months in jail.
Church Mutual also asked to be excluded from providing coverage for another defendant in the Clemishire suit, the Robert Morris Evangelistic Association, because the ministry was not included in the policies.
CBS News Texas has reached out to attorneys for the church and the Morris family.
Appeal filed in defamation suit
Last week, attorneys for the church and the current elders filed an emergency request with the Fifth Court of Appeals in Dallas, asking to halt the defamation lawsuit. No decision on that request had been made as of Thursday.
The church is also facing legal actions on two other fronts.
A Fort Worth court is considering arguments from Morris that he is owed millions of dollars as part of his retirement package, a claim the church denies.
A second federal action is taking place in Sherman, where a group of former church members has filed a class action lawsuit that alleges misconduct in the way the church spent tithe money it received from congregants.
