A Dallas County judge hit pause yesterday on the high-profile defamation fight tied to Gateway Church after lawyers for former pastor Robert Morris struck a rapid-fire agreement in a brief hearing. The new order tidies up an earlier ruling and sets the stage for a consolidated review by appellate judges. For now, key parts of the civil case are on ice while the appeals court weighs whether the trial court can move ahead.
Procedure and the stay
During a hearing before Judge Emily Tobolowsky, Morris’s lead attorney, Bill Mateja, told the court the parties had reached an agreement that “clarifies” her prior denial of Morris’s motion to dismiss under the ecclesiastical-abstention doctrine. Mateja said the clarification is meant to make the record clean…..