Lawyers for Robert Morris, the former Gateway Church pastor who had an inappropriate relationship with a teenager decades ago, asked a Fort Worth judge to remove one of the lead attorneys representing the church in litigation over disputed financial payments.
In court documents filed Friday, Morris’ attorneys want the judge hearing the case to disqualify David Middlebrook, Gateway’s longtime outside general counsel, because he previously represented Morris in several matters, including giving Morris legal advice about the issues that are at the heart of the current dispute.
“David Middlebrook represented Gateway Church and Pastor Robert Morris for years in connection with issues relating to Pastor Morris’s past relationship with Cindy Clemishire,” lawyers for Morris stated in an 18-page motion. “Specifically, Pastor Morris sought, relied on, and followed Middlebrook’s legal advice in responding to CC or her lawyer in 2005, 2007 and 2011. Gateway now relies on those very same events and issues in this dispute, invoking them in an effort to evade its payment obligations to Pastor Morris.”
Lawyers for Morris say Middlebrook’s continued representation of Gateway is “in open defiance of [Texas Disciplinary] Rule 1.09 governing conflicts of interest.”
“Middlebrook and his law firm must be disqualified due to his violation of Rule 1.09 and to avoid the appearance of impropriety,” Morris’ lawyers argue in Friday’s motion. “Finally, Middlebrook also is a central fact witness to the events leading to this dispute and is barred from continued representation by Rule 3.08(b) as well.”
“Robert Morris’s filing is full of factual inaccuracies,” a spokesman for David Middlebrook said in an email to The Texas Lawbook. “At no time has David’s firm or David himself represented Robert Morris personally in association with his criminal actions against Cindy Clemishire.”
Morris is represented by Bill Mateja, Elisha Kobre and Jason Hoggan of Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton, and Robert Tobey and Chad Baruch of Johnston Tobey Baruch.
Morris resigned as leader of the Southlake megachurch in 2024 when allegations resurfaced that he had an improper relationship with Clemishire, also known in the litigation as CC, four decades ago.
Oklahoma officials indicted Morris two months ago on five counts of lewd and indecent acts.
Last month, Morris told Gateway leaders that the church owed him millions of dollars in promised payments and retirement benefits. Lawyers for Morris sought to have the dispute settled via arbitration.
In response, Gateway lawyers filed documents earlier this month in Tarrant County District Court to stop the arbitration proceedings, arguing that Morris’ improper conduct and the criminal charges nullify any prior agreement with the former pastor.
In the motion filed Friday, Morris’ attorneys point out that Middlebrook also provided legal representation to Morris on preparing estate-planning documents, helping create Morris’ nonprofit foundation and forming a living trust.
“Throughout these engagements, Pastor Morris revealed confidential information to Middlebrook in the context of a personal attorney-client relationship — one separate from the lawyers’ representation of Gateway,” Morris’ lawyers argue.
Haynes Boone partner Ron Breaux is also representing Gateway.
The case is Gateway Church v. Robert Morris, District Court of Tarrant County, Cause No. 352-36-364545-25.