In the Matter of a Mail Dispute Between: JACK POWELL and HEWITT ROBINSON P.S. Docket No. MD-146 04/16/92 Grant, Quentin E. APPEARANCE FOR JACK POWELL: None APPEARANCE FOR HEWITT ROBINSON: Hewitt Robinson, Pro Se, 5801 Stockton Blvd., Suite 110, Sacramento, CA 95824-3015
INITIAL DECISION
The Office of Field Legal Services, Western Division, San Bruno, CA., has forwarded this dispute for resolution pursuant to Domestic Mail Manual (DMM) § 153.72 and 39 C.F.R. Part 965.
Only disputant Hewitt Robinson has filed the sworn submittal required by § 965.5 of the Rules of Practice. For failure to file a submittal, disputant Powell may be, and hereby is, held in default. 39 C.F.R. § 965.7.
The following findings of fact are based on the submittal of Mr. Robinson and the information submitted by the parties to the Manager of the Colonial Station of the Sacramento, CA, Post Office.
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. The disputants are Jack Powell, owner of AM Radio Station KJAY, Route 1, Box 1430, West Sacramento, CA 95691, and Hewitt Robinson, owner of Hewitt & Associates Advertising Agency, 5801 Stockton Boulevard, Sacramento, CA 95824-3015.
2. The mail in dispute is addressed to KJAY, 5801 Stockton Boulevard, Sacramento, CA 95824-3015.
3. Radio Station KJAY is located at Route 1, Box 1300, West Sacramento, CA 95691. Neither the radio station nor disputant Powell has ever been located at, or used, the Stockton Boulevard address.
4. About seven years ago, Hewitt & Associates started buying time from KJAY radio to broadcast, via telephone broadcast lines from 5801 Stockton Boulevard, a program called the Valley Sunset Music Show (VSMS). In correspondence with clients and supporters of VSMS, Hewitt & Associates used a letterhead with a logo containing the following: "KJAY Valley Sunset Music Show AM 1430" and the address 5801 Stockton Boulevard, Suite 110-C, Sacramento, California 95824.
5. Most of the mail in dispute was generated by Hewitt & Associates in connection with the VSMS, relates to VSMS, and is intended by senders to reach Hewitt & Associates as the producer of the show.
6. On or about August 31, 1991, Hewitt & Associates terminated its relationship with KJAY radio because of the station's low and fluctuating power and sought a similar relationship with a radio station having a stronger signal.
7. This mail dispute commenced in early February 1992 when disputant Powell filed with the Colonial Station an order that mail addressed to KJAY at 5801 Stockton Boulevard be forwarded to Route 1, Box 1430, West Sacramento, CA 95691. On or about March 2, 1992, disputant Hewitt Robinson notified the Colonial Station that the mail in question belongs to Hewitt & Associates and should not be forwarded pursuant to Mr. Powell's order.
8. The disputed mail is being held at the Colonial Station pending resolution of the dispute.
9. Prior to the dispute, Hewitt & Associates forwarded to Mr. Powell any mail received at 5801 Stockton intended for station KJAY, not for VSMS (Hewitt & Associates).
CONCLUSIONS OF LAW
DMM § 153.11(a) provides that the addressee may control delivery of his mail and that in the absence of a contrary [valid] order mail is delivered as addressed. The delivery of mail rules are intended to cause mail to reach the destination intended by the sender. Vol. I, Opinion of the Solicitor of the Post Office Dept., p. 713 (1882).
The bulk of the disputed mail in this case is intended to reach the producer of the Valley Sunset Music Show, Hewitt & Associates, at 5801 Stockton Boulevard. The call letters KJAY and AM frequency 1430 were used by Hewitt & Associates in correspondence and ads only as advice as to location of VSMS on the radio dial, and not as a representation that KJAY was operating at that address. Little, if any, of the mail is intended to reach radio station KJAY itself.
Applying the DMM and the cited opinion, it is concluded that the disputed mail should be delivered as addressed or in accordance with the direction of disputant Hewitt Robinson, the owner of Hewitt & Associates.
This decision determines only the right to delivery of the mail. Any mail received by Hewitt & Associates intended for radio station KJAY or its owner, disputant Jack Powell, is to be promptly forwarded.