Judge rules former clerk who refused to issue marriage licenses must pay $260,000 in fees, costs

LEXINGTON, Ky.– Former County Clerk Kim Davis, who refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples in Kentucky, 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 the $100,000 in damages. The jury says the former Rowan County clerk should pay the couple who filed the lawsuit.

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, saying Davis should pay because the men prevailed in their lawsuit, the reported Lexington Herald-Leader.

Attorneys for Davis were expected to appeal the ruling.

Davis attracted international attention when she was briefly jailed in 2015 for her refusal, which she based on her belief that marriage should only take place between a man and a woman.

Davis was only released after her staff issued the permits on her behalf but removed her name from the form. The Kentucky state legislature later passed a law removing the names of all county clerks from state marriage licenses.