UPDATE: OLA Opens Preliminary Investigation into Ramsey County
Date: September 19, 2025
Event: On September 19, 2025, the Office of the Legislative Auditor (OLA) confirmed that it has opened a preliminary investigation into irregular fee practices within Ramsey County District Court. The review follows repeated reports of inconsistent filing-fee assessments, unexplained dismissals despite payment, and alleged redirection or misapplication of funds between cases.
Scope of Inquiry
The OLA's preliminary review focuses on whether court administrators and judicial officers have improperly handled filing fees and related transactions. Of particular concern are instances where:
- Plaintiff and opposing parties both paid filing fees, yet the case was dismissed sua sponte by an unassigned judge;
- Additional fees were demanded to reopen or continue a case without clear statutory basis, written policy, or notice;
- Refunds, credits, or reallocations appear to have been processed inconsistently, with no transparent explanation or documented oversight.
The investigation also takes into account fee-waiver irregularities, including backdated approvals, contradictory waiver statuses, and discrepancies between internal records and the public Register of Actions.
Context and Concerns
This inquiry follows Plaintiff's broader documentation of altered orders, ADA retaliation, and systemic procedural obstructions in the Ramsey County court system. Fee practices are not occurring in isolation; they intersect with:
- unsigned and later "corrected" orders,
- late-issued or backdated notices,
- and inconsistent treatment of self-represented litigants across related dockets.
By examining financial handling in this environment, the OLA review raises questions about how money, access, and procedure interact in cases involving disabled and pro se parties.
Appearance of Accountability
Unlike other state entities that declined to act on Plaintiff's complaints, the OLA has statutory authority to audit public bodies, obtain records, and make formal findings. Its decision to open a preliminary investigation signals growing concern at the state level regarding financial accountability inside Minnesota's judiciary-support structure, including court administration.
Plaintiff has consistently raised the concern that these fee irregularities are not merely clerical errors but part of a pattern of discriminatory and retaliatory conduct against self-represented and disabled litigants: charging them more, losing or misrouting their payments, and using cost as a barrier to keep them out of court.
The OLA review now creates an external record of those concerns. Its findings-if any-will become part of the growing paper trail documenting how Ramsey County processes both money and rights.