Gateway Church and several church elders want an appellate court to overturn a recent ruling that allowed a sexual abuse victim’s defamation lawsuit to proceed.
The megachurch filed the appeal in the Fifth Court of Appeals Nov. 14, arguing the lower court doesn’t have jurisdiction over the claims from Cindy Clemishire because the suit pertains to internal church matters.
Therefore, Gateway says it’s protected by the ecclesiastical abstention doctrine — a legal principle that protects civil courts from intervening in a religious institution’s affairs…