The Barnes and the attorney general argue in their responses that there is nothing new in the opponents' legal briefs or the movie, and that the Friends of the Barnes and its members cannot intervene in the case anyway because they have no legal standing.
Samuel C. Stretton, the attorney who filed the petition for the opponents, said Friday that he had not seen the responses from the state and foundation.
"Our position is very straightforward," he said. "The state Attorney General's Office didn't reveal key information" during the initial litigation, so "the matter should be reopened."
In 2004, Ott ruled that the Barnes Foundation was in such precarious financial shape that it could move its collection to Philadelphia, giving it greater visibility and, more to the point, financial support from deep-pocketed foundations. In 2008, he dismissed another set of briefs seeking to block the relocation.
The opponents' petition argues that then-Gov. Ed Rendell and then-Attorney General Mike Fisher pressured Lincoln University, to whom Albert Barnes had entrusted stewardship of the foundation, to accept a diminished role on the Barnes board of trustees. Fisher, now a federal judge, and Rendell described their actions in The Art of the Steal.
In response, the Barnes and the attorney general point out that precisely the same information was contained in numerous Inquirer articles in 2003 and 2004 - when the litigation was active - and was hardly unknown to the public.
A hearing is scheduled for Tuesday in Montgomery County Orphans' Court.
Contact culture writer Stephan Salisbury at 215-854-5594 or ssalisbury@phillynews.com.
