Former Kentucky clerk who refused to issue marriage licenses must pay $260K in fees, costs

FILE - David Ermold, right, files to run for Rowan County Clerk in Kentucky as Clerk Kim Davis looks on, Dec. 6, 2017, in Morehead, Ky. Davis denied Ermold and his husband a marriage license two years ago because she was opposed to gay marriage for religious reasons. Ermold and his partner won a jury verdict for damages against Davis on Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2023. (AP Photo/Adam Beam, File)

Credit: AP

Credit: AP

FILE - David Ermold, right, files to run for Rowan County Clerk in Kentucky as Clerk Kim Davis looks on, Dec. 6, 2017, in Morehead, Ky. Davis denied Ermold and his husband a marriage license two years ago because she was opposed to gay marriage for religious reasons. Ermold and his partner won a jury verdict for damages against Davis on Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2023. (AP Photo/Adam Beam, File)

LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) — Former county clerk Kim Davis, who refused to issue marriage licenses in Kentucky 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 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.

Attorneys for Davis were expected to appeal the ruling.

Davis drew international attention when she was briefly jailed in 2015 over her refusal, which she based on her belief that marriage should only be between a man and a woman.

Davis was released only 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.