Is the Walters Art Museum part of city government? Not by a long shot say trustees in court documents filed this week.

An acrimonious spat between trustees of the Walters Art Museum and its employees continues to move through the courts, with the cultural institution filing documents Tuesday attempting to prove that legally it is a private corporation and not a city agency. On the surface, the issue that a Baltimore City Circuit Court judge is being asked to decide might seem dry as dust: Is the museum in the Mount Vernon neighborhood part of city government — as its employees claim — and therefore, subject to the Maryland Open Records Act? Or is the museum a private entity as trustees argue, and therefore exempt from having to share certain documents with its employees?