Kentucky Clerk Who Denied Gay Marriage Licenses Must Pay $260,000 in Legal Fees

Kim Davis, the former Kentucky county clerk who said she refused to issue same-sex marriage licenses in 2015 because of her religious beliefs, has been ordered to pay more than $260,000 in costs and attorney fees to a couple to whom she denied a license. ruled.

The decision, filed Dec. 28 in the U.S. District Court for Eastern Kentucky, orders Ms. Davis to pay David Ermold and David Moore $246,026.40 for their attorneys’ fees, and $14,058.30 for expenses, a total of $260,084.70.

Judge David L. Bunning wrote that his decision came at the end of a “long and winding road” of litigation. In 2015, Ms. Davis, who was then a clerk for Rowan County, Ky., repeatedly refused on religious grounds to issue marriage licenses for same-sex couples, despite a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that legalized same-sex marriages.

Mr. Ermold and Mr. Moore had been dating for 17 years and had lived in Rowan County for 10 years when they went to the county clerk’s office on July 6, 2015, to apply for a marriage license. Ms. Davis refused to issue it, according to their lawsuit, which was filed July 10.

In addition to attorneys’ fees and costs, Ms. Davis was ordered to pay $100,000 in damages to the couple, which a jury awarded in September, the judge noted. Judge Bunning said the fees and costs sought by the couple were reasonable given the outcome.

“They were trying to defend their fundamental right to marry and obtain marriage licenses; and they did,” he wrote in his decision, which was reported by The Lexington Herald-Leader on Tuesday.

Liberty Counsel, a conservative legal group in Florida that specializes in religious exemption cases and is representing Ms. Davis, had argued that the fees were excessive.

In a statement Tuesdaythe organization said it would ask the court to overturn the jury’s verdict because there was “insufficient evidence” to award damages. It said Ms. Davis “is not liable for any damages because she was entitled to religious relief due to the issuance of marriage licenses under her name and authority that conflicted with her religious beliefs.”

Ms. Davis served as a deputy county clerk for 27 years before being elected clerk in 2014. She became a symbol of religious opposition to gay marriage and was held in jail for five nights in 2015 after being found in contempt of court for defying a federal order to issue licenses to same-sex couples.

The Rowan County Clerk’s Office began issuing same-sex marriage licenses in September 2015 without Ms. Davis’ approval and pursuant to a federal court order. Mr. Ermold and Mr. Moore were married that year.