A new lawsuit against former Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis accuses her of hiding an inheritance to avoid paying a civil rights case judgment, according to circuit court filings.
Davis garnered national attention in 2015 when she refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples following Obergefell v. Hodges, the landmark Supreme Court case legalizing same-sex marriage nationwide.
In 2023, a federal jury decided Davis owed $100,000 in damages to one of those couples, David Moore and David Ermold, after a ruling found her refusals were unconstitutional.
Now, Moore and Ermold’s attorneys accuse Davis of lying under oath about what properties and assets she owned at a post-judgment hearing in December in order to avoid paying.
The lawsuit says Davis and her brother, Darold Rayburn Bailey Jr., inherited a $735,230 property from their mother in 2025, and Davis transferred her share of the property to her brother, sister-in-law, husband and son between April and May 2025. Court filings say the fair cash value of Davis’ share of the property is more than $200,000.
According to the lawsuit in Rowan Circuit Court, Davis said at the hearing “she owns no property and has no interest in any property” dating back 12 months.
Moore and Ermold’s attorneys are asking a judge to void the transfer and require Davis pay $565,285.91. That includes the $100,000 awarded by the jury, plus hundreds of thousands of dollars in attorneys fees and court expenses.
“It's a slam dunk, fraudulent transfer, in my view,” Michael Gartland, attorney for Moore and Ermold, told WEKU. “I've done several of these cases on both sides. This is the strongest one I've ever seen or heard about.”
WEKU has reached out to Davis’ attorneys for comment.
