Franken, Coleman Fight Over $94K in Legal Fees

Norm Coleman and Al Franken are tussling over $94,000 in legal fees as they head to the Minnesota Supreme Court, Talking Points Memo reports. A county clerk ruled this week that Coleman, after losing a court ruling in the Senate race, owed Franken the money under a loser-pays election law. But Coleman's lawyers say "costs and disbursements will become moot" if he wins, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune reports.

Franken's lawyers disagree, saying Coleman has 2 days to pay. "Judgment has been entered," a Franken lawyer wrote. "There is no good reason to delay determination of costs." Either way, Franken won't get what he asked for—$161,000—which itself "hardly begins to cover the millions that have been spent on legal fees, but it's one more thing for Coleman to worry about," says TPM. (More Al Franken stories.)