In the Matter of a Mail Dispute  )  August 5, 1996           
Between                          )
                                 )
MOIGU STANDING BEAR              )
                                 )
        and                      )
                                 )
ELEANOR C. FORTIN                )
        a/k/a                    )
QUEEN RIPPLING WATERS            ) P. S. Docket No. MD 96-185


APPEARANCE FOR MOIGU
STANDING BEAR:			John J. Carta, Jr., Esq.
				P.O. Box 209
				Essex, CT 06426-0209

APPEARANCE FOR ELEANOR
FORTIN a/k/a QUEEN
RIPPLING WATERS:		Robert L. Hirtle, Esq.
				Rogin, Nassau, Caplan, 
				  Lassman & Hirtle
				Cityplace 1, 22nd. Floor
				185 Asylum Street
				Hartford, CT 06103-3460

INITIAL DECISION

This mail dispute has been docketed pursuant to Domestic Mail Manual Transition Book §153.72, which requires the chief field counsel to forward certain unresolved mail disputes to the Judicial Officer for resolution. The mail in dispute is that addressed to The Mohegan Tribe and Nation, Inc., 232A Yantic Street, Norwich, CT 06360-4135. The mail is currently being held by the Norwich Postmaster.

Both parties filed sworn statements and submitted documents in support of their claims to the mail. The following findings of facts are based on those submissions and on information the parties previously submitted to the Norwich Postmaster, which was included in the file referred to the Judicial Officer.

FINDINGS OF FACT

1. The Mohegan Tribe and Nation, Inc. (the "Corporation"), was incorporated as a Connecticut nonstock corporation sometime prior to 1994. The articles of incorporation, as restated and filed with the Secretary of the State of Connecticut in April 1994, identified Eleanor C. Fortin as the corporation’s president. The articles do not describe how officers or directors are to be elected.

2. The offices of the Corporation are located at 232A Yantic Street in Norwich.

3. The Corporation has a connection to the Confederation of the Mohegan-Pequot American Indian Nation and Affiliated Tribes (the "Confederation"), but the exact nature of the connection is not apparent in the record of this mail dispute. It appears contemplated that the leadership of both organizations will be the same and that the leader of both will be the person identified as Sachem for the Confederation.

4. In a notarized document dated February 15, 1996, Ms. Fortin recognized Moigu Standing Bear as the Sachem or leader of the Confederation and of the Corporation, with full power to act on behalf of the Corporation in all matters. At a subsequent Tribal Council Meeting on February 18, 1996, Ms. Fortin acknowledged Moigu Standing Bear to be the Sachem and leader of the tribal organizations, and at an "executive meeting" of March 20, 1996, all in attendance, including Ms. Fortin, recognized Moigu Standing Bear as the leader of the Confederation and the president of the Corporation. On March 27, 1996, sixteen of the eighteen members of the Tribal Council for the Confederation (Ms. Fortin and one of her supporters apparently the only members of the Council not participating) signed documents recognizing Moigu Standing Bear as leader of the Confederation and president of the Corporation.

5. On April 22, 1996, after notice published in the newspaper on April 13, Ms. Fortin held a meeting at which the 38 tribal members present (out of over 1000 members) reportedly voted to confirm her as president of the Corporation.

6. As of May 9, 1996, the Office of the Secretary of the State of Connecticut issued a certification recognizing The Mohegan Tribe and Nation, Inc., as a corporation in good standing and listed Moigu Standing Bear as its president. There is no evidence that the records of that office reflect otherwise at this time.

7. Ms. Fortin has requested that the Norwich Postmaster forward mail addressed to the Corporation at 232A Yantic Street in Norwich to her.

CONCLUSIONS OF LAW

1. The only mail claimed by Ms. Fortin is that addressed to the Corporation. Therefore, mail addressed to the Confederation or to other addressees at 232A Yantic Street may be delivered as addressed or as directed by Moigu Standing Bear.

2. As of the end of March 1996, Moigu Standing Bear was the president of the Corporation. The process by which he became president is not detailed in the record, but at that time he was recognized by all leaders¹  of the Confederation and Corporation, including Ms. Fortin, as Sachem of the tribal organization and president of the Corporation.

3. The May 9, 1996 certificate of the secretary of the state regarding the status and officers of the Corporation (which is prima facie evidence of the facts stated therein (C.G.S.A. §33-523)) identified Moigu Standing Bear as the president of the Corporation. Ms. Fortin has not demonstrated that the April 22, 1996 meeting at which she contends she was elected president of the Corporation was, under Connecticut law and the Corporation’s articles of incorporation, sufficient to unseat Moigu Standing Bear, and she has not overcome the prima facie evidence that he is the Corporation’s president.

4. Postal regulations provide that if disagreement arises regarding delivery of an organization’s mail, the mail shall be delivered according to the instructions of the organization’s president or equivalent official. Domestic Mail Manual D042.4.1.

5. Accordingly, mail addressed to the Corporation, The Mohegan Tribe and Nation, Inc., at 232A Yantic Street, Norwich, Connecticut, is to be delivered as directed by Moigu Standing Bear.

6. The Postal Service will defer to a ruling of a court regarding entitlement to receive the Corporation’s mail (Domestic Mail Manual D042.6.3), and it is noted that C.G.S.A. §33-449 appears to provide an expeditious way to obtain court review of a dispute over the appointment of directors or officers of nonstock corporations.

7. The attached mail delivery order should be issued.

					Norman D. Menegat
					Administrative Judge

TO THE POSTMASTER AT:	NORWICH, CT 06360-9998

		  RE:	Mail Dispute Between:

			MOIGU STANDING BEAR
			
				and

			ELEANOR C. FORTIN a/k/a
			QUEEN RIPPLING WATERS
			P. S. Docket No. MD 96-185

All mail addressed to The Mohegan Tribe and Nation, Inc., 232A Yantic Street, Norwich, CT 06360-4135, currently held or received in the future, is to be delivered according to the instructions of Moigu Standing Bear.

					Judicial Officer