Two groups — including one headed by Abigail Kawananakoa, an heiress of the Campbell Estate who is descended from Hawaiian royalty — are filing a federal lawsuit demanding that a Native Hawaiian organization return 83 lots of priceless Hawaiian artifacts to Bishop Museum so that they can be properly returned to their rightful claimants.

Kawananakoa is president of Na Lei Alii Kawananakoa, which, along with the Royal Hawaiian Academy of Traditional Arts, submitted the suit at the federal courthouse yesterday. The two groups also submitted a request for a court order seeking the return.

The suit is over a long-standing dispute over artifacts recovered at the Kawaihae Caves on the Big Island in 1905. Known as the Forbes Caves collection, the objects include a female figure carved of wood; two stick 'aumakua; and gourds decorated with human teeth.

Bishop Museum lent those items for a year to Hui Malama I Na Kupuna 'O Hawai'i Nei in 2000, according to the suit.

But Hui Malama did not return the items, has refused to do so and apparently buried them in the Kawaihae Cave complex, exposing them to environmental harm and thieves, the suit said.

The lawsuit said the items were wrongfully obtained from the museum under a previous administration in violation of the federal Native Hawaiian Graves Protection and Repatriation Act. The law establishes a process for museums to return cultural items to groups that include Native Hawaiian organizations.

"Hui Malama hijacked an important part of Hawai'i's cultural past in a manner that should shock the conscience of this court," the two groups said in documents supporting their request that the items be returned to the museum. The groups are represented by Honolulu attorney George Van Buren.

The suit is against the museum and Hui Malama, a nonprofit group formed for the care of burial remains and associated objects.

But the museum's current president, William Y. Brown, issued a statement yesterday indicating that the institution sympathizes with the two groups.

"We agree with the plaintiffs that the Kawaihae repatriation has not been completed and is not final," he said. "We strongly believe that these objects should be recovered and made secure from harm. Once that is done, consultation should continue among all recognized claimants in a manner that is respectful to them all.

"We appreciate the frustration of the plaintiffs, and hope that this case can be resolved quickly."

Edward Halealoha Ayau, Hui Malama spokesman, would not comment because he had not read the lawsuit.

But Guy Kaulukukui, a former museum employee who oversaw the claims to the artifacts under the federal statute, said the institution complied with "the letter and spirit of the law" in releasing the artifacts to Hui Malama. He said if the museum chose to defend its actions, it would prevail.

"I don't know that it will attempt to defend itself very well, given that the landscape has changed," he said.

When it received the artifacts, Hui Malama was one of four groups recognized as a claimants under the federal law. Currently, there are 13 others, including the two filing the lawsuit.

The suit said a review committee, an advisory board to the Department of Interior, twice found that the process of identifying the correct claimants had not been completed.

"We have tried every way possible to resolve this matter other than going to court," Kawananakoa said in a statement yesterday. "However, the refusal of Hui Malama to comply with the loan agreement, the review committee's two decisions and the law left us with no choice."

La'akea Suganuma, president of the Royal Hawaiian Academy, said in a statement they're not sure the artifacts are in a cave. "Even if they are, we are very concerned about their condition. It is certain that they have been subjected to deterioration and attack by insects for 5 1/2 years," he said.

The lawsuit and the request for an injunction were submitted to a receptacle at the federal courthouse, which was closed yesterday. The papers will be formally filed on Monday.

A hearing date on the request for the court order will be set after the documents are filed.

Reach Ken Kobayashi at kkobayashi@honoluluadvertiser.com.