Gateway Church in Southlake, Texas, and its embattled founder, Robert Morris, are seeking to dismiss a defamation lawsuit filed by Cindy Clemishire earlier this summer, just weeks after Morris pleaded guilty to sexually abusing her beginning when she was 12 in the 1980s.
Clemishire, 55, and her father, Jerry Lee Clemishire, who are seeking more than $1 million in damages, allege that Morris and Gateway Church leaders publicly mischaracterized the abuse she suffered as a consensual “relationship” with a “young lady” instead of the sexual assault of a child.
It further alleges that when public media reports emerged in 2024 about the abuse, Morris, Gateway’s board of elders, and media executive Lawrence Swicegood made “knowingly false” statements to minimize what happened.
The Clemishires are seeking to conduct discovery in the case under Level 3 of the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure. On Monday, Gateway Church sought to dismiss the lawsuit by invoking the ecclesiastical abstention doctrine, which argues that secular courts have no jurisdiction in religious matters.
Gateway Church leaders also argue that internal communications and statements made by the church about the sexual abuse to members are protected under that doctrine.
“While the First Amendment does not bar all claims against churches, Plaintiffs’ claims against Gateway here plainly fall within the sphere of church autonomy. Binding authority holds that the Court cannot undertake ‘any investigation’ into the Church’s ‘choices in investigating and regulating its formal leaders and people ordained for religious duties’ or ‘communication with the public’ regarding ‘the allegation of [Mr. Morris’s] sexual abuse,'” Gateway Church argues in its filing in Dallas County Court on Monday.
“The Court should therefore grant Gateway’s plea to the jurisdiction and dismiss Plaintiffs’ claims against the Church with prejudice.”
In addition to Swicegood, Gateway Church, Morris, his wife Deborah, and the Robert Morris Evangelistic Association Inc., Clemishire and her father also name current and former elders of the church as individual defendants. They are Thomas H. Miller, Jr., John D. “Tra” Willbanks, III, Kevin Grove, Jeremy Carrasco, Kenneth W. Fambro, II, Gayland Lawshe, Dane Minor and Steve Dulin.
Each defendant has sought to have the case dismissed for a variety of reasons.
In a response to the lawsuit filed on Tuesday, Morris and his wife denied “all and singular, each and every material allegation contained in Plaintiffs’ Original Petition and any subsequent petition.” They presented several affirmative defenses under Rule 94 of the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure including that the court lacks subject matter jurisdiction.
Morris and his wife contend that Clemishire and her father failed to “state a claim upon which relief can be granted.”
“Defendant denies that it made any defamatory publications whatsoever concerning Plaintiffs. Alternatively, to the extent any statement made by Defendant is alleged by Plaintiffs to have been defamatory, any such statement was: (1) true; (2) substantially true; (3) absolutely privileged; (4) qualifiedly privileged; (5) made without malice or negligence; and/or (6) not published,” Morris and his wife argue.
Responding to the multiple motions to dismiss their lawsuit, lawyers for the Clemishires argued in a filing on Tuesday that the court has jurisdiction over criminal matters and the ecclesiastical abstention doctrine does not apply.
“This case is about the criminal conduct of the former pastor of a church, and the subsequent tortious conduct of the church and some of its leaders after that criminal conduct came to light,” they note.
“None of these unlawful acts are protected by the First Amendment. The Court should deny the Pleas to the Jurisdiction because this case does not ask the Court to interpret religious doctrine or church discipline. Rather, this case is about secular facts — the who, what, when, and where of the false and defamatory statements Defendants made about the Clemishires that form the basis of the Clemishires’ lawsuit,” the attorneys continue.
“The Clemishires’ causes of action would, in no way, require the Court to second-guess church governance or question any ecclesiastical decision making. The Ecclesiastical Abstention Doctrine does not strip this Court of its jurisdiction.”
Robert Morris was given a 6-month prison term and a 10-year suspended sentence during a hearing in Osage County Court, Oklahoma, on Oct. 2, after he pleaded guilty to sexually abusing Cindy Clemishire for 4.5 years in the 1980s, beginning when she was 12.
“He simply accepted responsibility for his crime from the mid-1980’s and pled guilty. He pled guilty because he wanted to accept responsibility for his conduct. While he believes that he long since accepted responsibility in the eyes of God — and that Gateway Church was a manifestation of that acceptance — he readily accepted responsibility in the eyes of the law by virtue of his guilty plea,” Morris’ lawyer Bill Mateja said after he was sentenced.
Before accepting responsibility for his crime, the Clemishires’ attorneys argue that Morris and Gateway Church elders knowingly misrepresented the facts to church members and the public.
“In 1989, according to Defendant Morris and others, Defendant Morris sought the forgiveness of the Clemishire family. Defendant Morris stated publicly (in a public statement in June 2024 to the Christian Post when his criminal behavior was brought to light) that the Clemishire family told him that they graciously forgave him and that they blessed his return to ministry,” the attorneys argue.
“This did not occur in the way that Defendant Morris put forward to the Christian Post, his congregation, and the public at-large. Instead, it was another attempt by Defendant Morris to trivialize and minimize the events of the 1980s so that he could continue making millions of dollars as a pastoral figure.”
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