Former clerk who denied gay couples marriage licenses is ordered to pay $260,000
LEXINGTON, Ky. — Kim Davis, the former county clerk in Kentucky who refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, must pay a total of $260,104 in fees and expenses to attorneys who represented one couple, according to a federal judge’s ruling.
That’s in addition to $100,000 in damages that a jury said the former Rowan County clerk should pay the couple who sued.
Attorneys for Davis had argued that the fees and costs sought by the attorneys were excessive, but U.S. District Judge David L. Bunning disagreed and said Davis must pay since the men prevailed in their lawsuit, the Lexington Herald-Leader reported.
Davis is expected to appeal the ruling.
Kim Davis, an Apostolic Christian, spent five days in jail for defying federal court orders to issue same-sex marriage licenses after the Supreme Court legalized gay marriage nationwide.
She drew international attention when she was briefly jailed in 2015 over her refusal, which she based on her belief that marriage should be only between a man and a woman.
Davis was released after her staff issued the licenses on her behalf but removed her name from the form. Kentucky’s state Legislature later enacted a law removing the names of all county clerks from state marriage licenses.
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