Former Rowan County Kentucky Clerk Kim Davis has been ordered by a federal jury to pay $100,000 in damages to a same-sex couple she refused to sign a marriage license for in 2015. Davis is represented by attorneys with Liberty Counsel, who plan to appeal the decision on her behalf.
The decision was made in court on Thursday, Sept. 14, when same-sex couple David Ermold and David Moore requested $50,000 each in damages. They claimed that Ermold had lost his job at the University of Pikeville as a result of the case with Davis. The University’s Director of Human Resources then testified that this claim was false and that Ermold’s position was one of several terminated due to downsizing. According to Liberty Counsel, Ermold and Moore then “changed gears during the trial to allege they should receive damages for hurt feelings.”
Liberty Counsel argues that evidence provided in court does not match the jury’s decision and, for that matter, did not even warrant being given over to the jury. As a result, they claim that the judge violated a rule of civil procedure by sending the case to the jury without sufficient evidence warranting damages. “Binding Sixth Circuit law states that the mere testimony of a plaintiff that he was embarrassed, humiliated, etc., without any other evidence of damages, cannot suffice to merit a damages award,” they state.
Ermold v. Davis is not the only case against Davis for her actions in 2015. Yates v. Davis, a similar case between Davis and same-sex couple James Yates and William Smith, was tried in tandem with Ermold. However, no damages were awarded in Yates because, in the words of Daniel Schmid, one of Davis’ attorneys, “that is what the evidence required.”
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