A Dallas County judge ruled Tuesday that a defamation lawsuit filed against Gateway Church and ex-pastor Robert Morris may continue, according to court documents.
Gateway’s attorneys argued for the case’s dismissal under a legal principle known as the “ecclesiastical abstention doctrine,” saying that the suit deals with religious matters.
Under that doctrine, civil courts are prohibited from weighing in on a dispute that is “strictly and purely ecclesiastical in its character,” according to the Cardozo Law Review
In the lawsuit, sexual abuse survivor Cindy Clemishire and her father allege that Morris and others involved with the North Texas megachurch made millions from concealing and mischaracterizing his abuse of Clemishire, beginning when she was 12 years old in the 1980s. Clemishire’s suit alleges that church officials defamed her in statements after she spoke publicly about the abuse last year, including a June 2024 statement in which Morris characterized it as “inappropriate sexual behavior” with a “young lady.”
Morris pleaded guilty in an Oklahoma criminal court in September to five felony counts related to that abuse.
For those charges, Morris is currently serving a six-month jail sentence, and will serve nine and a half years of probation after his release.
Dallas County 298th District Court Judge Emily Tobolowsky also denied motions to dismiss the lawsuit from church elders Tra Willbanks, Kenneth Fambro, Gayland Lawshe and Dane Minor, according to court records.
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“We are grateful the judge followed the law and wasn’t distracted by false narratives peddled by the defense,” an attorney for Clemishire, Alex Yaffe, told KERA News. “We will press forward and conduct the discovery the judge has ordered and remain confident in our case.”
Clemishire’s attorneys have argued that the church’s statements were not religious but were secular crisis communications.
The defamation suit is set for trial next summer.
Morris still has two other cases pending: In Tarrant County court, Morris’ attorneys are asking a judge to force arbitration in a dispute with Gateway over the former pastor’s retirement pay.
A federal case over the church’s alleged misappropriation of tithe funds is also pending.
Attorneys for Morris could not immediately be reached for comment Wednesday afternoon.