Court: Coleman Owes Franken $95K

The never-ending story of Minnesota’s contested senate seat just got a little pricier: a Minnesota court has ordered Republican Norm Coleman to pay Democrat Al Franken $94,783.15 to make up for the court costs of his appeal of the Minnesota’s U.S. Senate election results. Originally, Franken asked for $161,000—a drop in the bucket, considering the men spent over $50 million in campaign and legal fees—but some of those charges were rejected for insufficient documentation or not justified under Minnesota law, which requires the loser of a political race to reimburse the winner if the results do not change in the appeals process. Originally, Coleman and his representatives argued that Franken was not due any compensation.