Gateway Church founder asks Dallas County court to toss victim’s defamation suit
The Southlake pastor who last month pleaded guilty to five counts of indecency with a child has asked a Dallas County court to toss the victim’s defamation lawsuit against him, court filings show.
The defamation suit alleges that former Gateway Church pastor Robert Morris made millions from concealing and mischaracterizing his abuse of Cindy Clemishire, beginning when she was 12 years old, in the 1980s.
Clemishire and her father filed the suit in June, seeking civil damages in excess of $1 million.
The Clemishires say that Morris and Gateway Church dismissed the sexual assault for years, characterizing it as “nothing more than an inappropriate relationship,” when in reality it was the sexual abuse of a child, the family’s lawyers said when they filed the lawsuit.
The family also alleges that Morris, his wife, and Gateway staff members continually defamed them and lied about the circumstances of the abuse after Clemishire came forward last year. After Clemishire spoke publicly about the abuse, Morris resigned in June 2024 from the church, which he had founded in 2000.
In Monday’s filing, lawyers for Robert Morris and his wife, Debbie Morris, argue Clemishire’s claims should be dismissed in part because the statute of limitations on them have expired.
Additionally, the Morrises’ lawyers argued that the Clemishires failed to state a claim on which relief could be granted, and that the Dallas court does not have jurisdiction over the matter, according to the filing.
The Morrises aren’t the only defendants to ask the court to be dismissed from the lawsuit: The North Texas megachurch and several of its former elders, as well as Morris’ nonprofit, have also filed motions seeking to be removed as defendants in the case, according to court records. All of the defendants have denied making defamatory statements about Clemishire.
Morris is currently serving a six-month sentence in an Oklahoma jail in the indecency with a child criminal case, and he is required to register as a sex offender. He will serve the remainder of his 10-year sentence on probation in Texas. The terms of his plea agreement in the criminal case also require him to pay Clemishire $270,000.
Clemishire’s defamation suit is set to go to trial next June.
This story was originally published October 29, 2025 at 8:06 PM.
