The City of St. Paul has been ordered to pay more than $30,000 for violating Minnesota open records law.

It all traces back to the city’s plans to build a new bike path on Summit Avenue. An opposed group of homeowners requested public records from the city to better understand the project’s impact, but more than a year went by with little response.

RELATED: St. Paul’s Summit Avenue bike path plan met with safety, preservation debate

Meanwhile, the city continued to move forward with the project, and homeowner Bob Cattanach decided to sue.

“They just had no interest in giving me the documents before the city council voted. That was clear as day,” said Cattanach, a Summit Avenue resident and attorney.

“It took two years of my life and hundreds and hundreds of hours just to get them to give me simple documents. It isn’t like they had to work hard to find these. These documents were hiding in plain sight,” Cattanach said.

The court seemed to agree. A Ramsey County District Court Judge ruled St. Paul took too long to fully release public records that he had a right to receive. The judge cited 14 state law violations.

Then, in a possibly unprecedented order last week, a judge said the city must pay Cattanach $30,000 in damages, plus $750 for costs incurred in the legal process.

“This is an extraordinary ruling by the judge,” Cattanach said.

“I think it is rare,” said University of Minnesota media ethics and law professor Jane Kirtley, calling the case a win for the public.

“In my experience, most judges will hesitate to award exemplary damages, except in cases where they believe that the government acted in a truly inappropriate and egregious manner, where they essentially violated the law — they knew they were violating the law, and they didn’t care.”

5 EYEWITNESS NEWS has asked the city to respond to the ruling, first requesting an interview with the city clerk, who is in charge of handling public data requests for St. Paul. We were told she is on medical leave, so we requested an alternative. After several more follow-ups, including asking directly in an email, the city has not answered our questions as of this report.

“So far as I know, the City of St. Paul hasn’t changed how it does business,” Cattanach said.

“But right now, you have a system that’s completely out of balance. The government holds all the cards. Nobody’s got the time or the money to pursue this like I did,” he continued.

“So it’s tremendously important,” Kirtley said.

“If you have any doubt or suspicion about how your tax dollars are being spent, this is the key that the legislature has given you to unlock the door and to find out what the government is up to. And, I think we all have a stake in that, and we ought to be interested, and I would even say excited, to find out that the courts will hold government accountable.”

Among other questions, 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS asked the city if and how it plans to change how it handles data requests because of this case.

5 EYEWITNESS NEWS also asked if St. Paul plans to appeal.

Cattanach said he’s expecting an appeal, and he welcomes it, because if the Minnesota Court of Appeals were to affirm the ruling, it could set a stricter statewide standard in favor of those seeking government records.

After our story aired, St. Paul City Attorney Lyndsey Olson provided the following statement:

“The June 23, 2025, trial in Cattanach v. City was cancelled by agreement of the parties. Judge Deery Stennes’ Order cancelling the trial and requiring the City to pay damages and costs totaling $30,750 expedites the parties’ opportunity to appeal the prior ruling regarding the City’s compliance with the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act. The City intends to file an appeal challenging the court’s determination that it intentionally violated the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act.”