By Emily Cadei, CQ Staff

It wasn’t the ruling everyone is waiting for, but a Minnesota court did issue a decision Wednesday that puts to rest one element in the ongoing dispute over the 2008 Senate race between Republican Norm Coleman and Democrat Al Franken .

A state trial court ordered Coleman's campaign to reimburse Franken nearly $95,000 in legal costs as part of its decision rejecting Coleman's challenge to the election challenge in April. As the winner in the trial court case, Franken is entitled to recover expenses related to the legal proceedings — such as transcripts, subpoenas, and data requests — but not attorney fees.

Franken initially requested reimbursement of more than $160,000.

The order rebuffed Coleman’s request to delay assessing any costs until after the Minnesota Supreme Court rules on his appeal of the decision. The state Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the appeal June 1, but has yet to issue a decision.

The trial court determined that Franken won the November election by 312 votes out of 2.9 million cast. Coleman attorney’s argued before the state Supreme Court that that ruling ignored the disenfranchisement of thousands of Minnesota voters due to inconsistent standards the counties used for counting absentee ballots.

If he loses his appeal, Coleman has not ruled out taking the case to the federal courts.