COLUMBIA - State Supreme Court justices heard arguments Wednesday in the open records lawsuit against Friends of the Hunley, but they aren't exactly sure why.

Chief Justice Jean Toal told lawyers that because the group has turned over its records and no one was making allegations of wrongdoing in court documents, she didn't see a controversy for the high court to rule on.

'We don't issue declarations on academic questions,' Toal said.

The hearing was the latest - perhaps last - round of a four-year legal battle between the charity that raises money and runs the Confederate submarine conservation project and citizen watchdog Edward Sloan of Greenville.

In 2001, Sloan requested financial records and other documents from the Friends of the Hunley. The group claimed it was a charitable organization and not subject to the Freedom of Information Act. Sloan sued. Two weeks later, the Friends of the Hunley turned over the documents.

Sloan continued to press his lawsuit, which the lower courts called 'moot' because the records were released.

Jim Carpenter, the attorney for Sloan, said they were asking the court to declare the Friends of the Hunley a public body and also an alter ego of the Hunley Commission, the state agency charged with care of the sub. Such a declaration, he said, would require the Friends of the Hunley to conform to state procurement and low-bid procedures, among other things.

'The Friends claims it is a corporation and not limited by the same rules as the Hunley Commission,' Carpenter said.

Carpenter argued that the group was set up to get around the limits of government regulations. He said the Friends of the Hunley has denied FOIA requests to others, including Charleston businessman Jock Stender, whom Carpenter claimed dug through the Friends of the Hunley trash to retrieve documents.

'That's an unlovely way to gather information,' Toal said.

Friends of the Hunley attorney Biff Sowell said the group acknowledged it was subject to the open records act as long as it got public money, a point that Toal needled him on as well.

'After all these years in court, why wait so late to decide that?' Toal asked.

Officials with Friends of the Hunley said they have complied with FOIA provisions in all cases, except a couple of cases of harassment, citing a Charleston company that filed 40 pages of requests in a one-month period.

The state attorney general has said he thinks the group would be subject to FOIA, and last week the Friends said they would not contest that aspect of the case.

But, Sowell said, the Friends is only a public entity as defined by the FOIA - that it receives public money - and is in no way a government entity and certainly is not an arm of the Hunley Commission.

'We have not said that and would not say that,' Sowell said.

Carpenter said Sloan's interest in the Friends of the Hunley is simply academic; he regularly files similar lawsuits against other agencies.

He said the Friends of the Hunley documents have shown they are exceeding their mission by doing such things as restoring artifacts from the Battle of Normandy, and buying 'expensive wine.'

Justices pointed out that those issues were not part of his court filings.

'It's OK to play to the cameras if you want to,' Toal said. 'We have no case of controversy. That's very different than an FOIA case.'

After the hearing, Carpenter said Sloan was not suing for misuse of government money and, 'We don't have any current plans. That's not to say we wouldn't.'

Sowell said he was satisfied with how the hearing went. 'I think we have a solid case,' he said.

 

Contact Brian Hicks at 937-5561 or bhicks@postandcourier.com.