Former KY County Clerk Kim Davis Will Appeal After Judge Awards Damages in ‘Marriage’ Case — But She Was Entitled to a Religious Accommodation

Liberty Counsel said their client, Kim Davis, a former Kentucky county clerk of court who declined to issue homosexual “marriage” licenses, doesn’t owe damages in a discrimination lawsuit because she had been entitled to a religious accommodation.

After the U.S. Supreme Court in 2015 ruled that two people of the same sex had a constitutional right to “marry,” Christian clerks issuing marriage licenses had a dilemma. They could refuse to issue licenses under their names and face government retaliation, or they could submit.

Kim Davis refused to submit.

The former clerk of court in Rowan County, Kentucky, believes that marriage is the union between one man and one woman, as God ordained. She asked then-governor Steve Beshear, a Democrat, to issue an executive order to allow clerks a religious accommodation. He denied her request. Davis got in trouble for turning away homosexuals who applied for “marriage” licenses.

Several couples filed lawsuits. After losing in lower courts, Davis appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which refused to hear her case. The high court has since ruled in favor of Christians in such cases.

After taking office, Matt Bevin, the new Republican governor, issued an executive order in 2015 to remove clerks’ names from the marriage license form. The legislature in 2016 provided a religious and conscience accommodation to all county clerks who objected to issuing “marriage” licenses.

A federal court dismissed all the lawsuits against Davis, but some of the parties have continued to seek damages. In one case, Yates v. Davis, the jury awarded no damages (plaintiffs asked for $300,000). But the jury in Ermold v. Davis awarded the two plaintiffs a total of $100,000. The judge awarded them $246,000 in attorney’s fees and $14,000 in expenses. From Liberty Counsel, Davis’s legal counsel:

This latest judgment now allows Liberty Counsel to ask the Court to reverse the jury’s verdict against Davis because there was insufficient evidence to award the plaintiffs monetary damages. If the motion is denied, Liberty Counsel will then appeal the case to the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Liberty Counsel contends that one of the plaintiffs claiming damages, David Ermold, said he was fired because of the case. “During the trial, the Human Resource Director testified that was not true and that Ermold’s position was downsized along with other positions.”

During the Ermold case, the judge allowed lawyers to ask potential jurors whether that had moral or religious objections to homosexual “marriage,” which Liberty Counsel said was improper.

“In addition, under Rule 50 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, a district court judge is prohibited from giving a case to the jury when the evidence presented during the trial is clearly insufficient to warrant any damages.”

Liberty Counsel added that Davis was entitled to a religious accommodation based on the executive order, state law, and the First Amendment; therefore, the plaintiff was not entitled to damages.

This case is far from over,” said Mat Staver, Liberty Counsel founder and chairman Mat Staver. “Because of Kim Davis, every clerk in Kentucky now has the freedom to serve as an elected official without compromising their religious convictions and conscience. This case has the potential to extend the same religious freedom protections beyond Kentucky and to overturn Obergefell v. Hodges, which was wrongly decided and should be overturned.”

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