A legal fight to help protect elected officials could end up before the Minnesota Supreme Court.

In 2023, Minneapolis City Council Member Michael Rainville filed for a restraining order against Michael Forcia, who Rainville claimed threatened him and his family during a City Council meeting. A Hennepin County judge granted the order, but the Minnesota Court of Appeals overturned that lower court decision last week by a 2-1 vote.

Rainville told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS he still feels threatened and his attorney plans to file a petition for appeal with the Minnesota Supreme Court on Tuesday.

“My family, home, I would never be safe. He was coming after me,” Rainville said. “I am married and it affects my wife. I am a father. It affects that relationship. People are scared.”

Rainville’s attorney, Joe Tamburino, said the Court of Appeals overturned the original ruling because the threats were considered only one instance during one City Council meeting. Tamburino said the court argued there had to be multiple threats to grant the restraining order.

Tamburino said he plans to argue before the state Supreme Court — if it accepts the case — that there were multiple threats that day, and that constitutes enough evidence to let the ruling be affirmed.

“They found it was only one incident, and you need more than one incident to get a harassment. You have to have repeated incidents,” Tamburino said. “And we think our case meets the definition because there were repeated incidents of harassment.”

Forcia told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS if he saw Rainville again, he would still approach him and talk to him but wouldn’t threaten him. He added that if the Supreme Court hears the case, he would rigorously defend himself.