The Alaska Supreme Court heard oral arguments Tuesday on an appeal from three Frog House members regarding the dispute over ownership of five Frog House artifacts stored at the Jilkaat Kwaan Heritage Center.
The Alaska State Museum in Juneau last year released four carved house posts and a replica of a painted wall screen, valued at roughly $1 million, to the Chilkat Indian Association’s Jilkaat Kwaan Heritage Center in Klukwan after housing the items since 1978.
The transfer to the state museum occurred more than 40 years after a settlement was reached in Superior Court between the village and Frog House members, who are not the current appellants, when there was no museum in Haines. The judge at the time ordered that the artifacts “shall be moved to Haines or Klukwan for suitable, safe storage and use by all Frog House members there, and they shall not be subject to sale or transfer except with unanimous consent of all Frog House members.”
The Heritage Center was built in 2016 and after the Alaska State Museum renovated its space, it made plans to transfer the items back to Klukwan in accordance with the Superior Court decision. In January 2019, members of the Frog House Clan filed a motion for preliminary injunction in Juneau Superior Court, seeking to stop the clan treasures from returning to Klukwan.
Vance Sanders, attorney for the village of Klukwan, said the law of case doctrine prevents relitigating the settled and ordered issue of where the items would be moved when proper space became available, citing the language of the judge’s order.
“That’s as plain as it can be,” Sanders told the court. “It’s mandatory. It was agreed to by all the parties.”
The appellants, Sally Burattin, Patrick Philpott and Rosemarie Hotch, are being represented by Fred Triem. Triem said that Burattin is the only clan member living in Klukwan and argued that Frog House clan members don’t have direct or indirect control of the artifacts. He argued that release of the items to the village counters the 1978 order.
“It’s the three-letter word ‘use,’” Triem said. “The order says they should be moved to Haines (for use) by all Frog House members. And that’s what’s missing here. The issue is the artifacts are not subject to use by the members of the Frog House clan of whom there’s only one member residing in the village and that’s our lead appellant.”
Chilkat Indian Village’s Jones Hotch told the CVN that all house members have access to such items at the heritage center and said Triem’s claim that they don’t have such access is inaccurate.
Supreme Court justice Daniel Winfree asked Sanders whether or not Frog House clan members had access to and use of the items.
“We have this agreement that says the elders there in Klukwan can direct what happens to these things but there can be no transfer or sale without 100 percent membership agreement,” Winfree said. “Let’s assume there’s only one person. Can that person tell the Chilkat Indian Village what to do with those artifacts?
Sanders said no one person could do so, but the items could be used by clan members for traditional purposes. “They could come to the cultural center or items could be made available for that important custom or purpose,” Sanders said.
The court will issue a decision at a future date.