On Wednesday, a team of lawyers were awarded more than $1 million by the State of Kentucky. These lawyers successfully challenged the state's ban of same-sex marriage and so the Kentucky district judge gave them such settlement.
This is only one of a handful of million-dollar settlements and awards in these cases to date. Attorneys for the plaintiff's demanded the court to award more than $2 million in fees and an enhancement of 75% given the difficulty and the importance of the case. Judge Charles Simpson III agreed that the lawyers deserved such settlement, however, they were not entitled with the enhancement.
According to National Law Journal, back in 2014, the state of Kentucky's ban on gay marriage was ruled to be unconstitutional by US District Judge John Heyburn. Meanwhile, Attorney General Jack Conway stated that he believed the ban was discriminatory and will ultimately fail in the federal appeals court.
Meanwhile, Governor Steve Beshear was said to have hired outside attorneys to continue the pursuit of banning same-sex marriage. The governor defends the ban so all people in Kentucky will have finality and understanding of what the law is. Lexington Herald-Leader reported that the governor signed a $260,000 contract with that firm.
Last summer, the case of same-sex marriage made its way to the US Supreme Court and was made legal. Clay Center Dispatch reported that Tennessee, Ohio, and Michigan were among the states who submitted the case. ABC News reported that Jessica Ditto, spokeswoman for Governor Matt Bevin said that the Republican governor who opposes same-sex marriage gathered his general counsel to review the ruling. "We are pleased that the court did not award any bonus attorney fees and eliminated certain fees and expenses that the court deemed unnecessary," Ditto said.
The US Federal Law mandates that the losing parties in civil rights cases need to pay the victors their legal fees and expenses. The group of attorneys who successfully defended same-sex marriage asked US District Judge Charles R. Simpson to grant them more than $2million, which includes a bonus allowed under the US law for special cases. The lawyers argued that the case was very complex and that same-sex marriage is an unpopular case in the state of Kentucky.
Simpson commended their efforts as having an important impact on the society, although conversely the judge decline to award them the enhance fee. Simpson reasoned that it is intended for exceptional cases lawyers might be otherwise unwilling to take on.
