U.S. INDIAN CLAIMS COMMISSION General Rules of Procedure PROMULGATED JULY 4, 1947 EDGAR E. WITT, Chief Commissioner UNITED STATES WASHINGTON: 1947 SECTION 1. Petitioners. (a) Claims within the jurisdiction of the Indian Claims Commission of the United States (60 Stat. 959; 25 U. S. C. 70), hereafter referred to as the Commission, may be presented by any Indian tribe, band, or other identifiable group of Indians. (b) Claims by Indian tribes, bands, or groups which have tribal organizations recognized by the Secretary of the Interior as having authority to represent such tribe, band, or group shall be filed and presented by the duly appointed or elected officers of such organization, except as provided in paragraph (c) of this section. (c) Where by virtue of fraud, collusion, or laches on the part of a recognized tribal organization a claim has not been presented (or has not been included as part of a presented claim), any member of such tribe, band, or group may file claim on behalf of all the other members of such tribe, band, or group upon complying with the provisions of section 8 (b). (d) Claims on behalf of any unorganized tribe, band, or other identifiable group may be filed by any member of such tribe, band or identifiable group as the representative of all its members. SEC. 2. Commencement of action. (a) A claim shall be commenced by the filing of a petition with the Commission. (b) Twenty printed copies of each petition shall be filed. The Commission on motion accompanying a typewritten petition assigning good and sufficient cause, may waive or postpone printing of the petition. When printing of the petition is waived eight legible typewritten copies thereof shall be filed. SEC. 3. Service of petition. Service shall be made upon the United States as follows: By sending 15 copies of the printed petition or 4 copies of the typed petition by registered mail (return receipt requested) to the Attorney General of the United States at Washington, D. C. Service by mail is complete upon mailing. The return receipt shall be delivered to the clerk of the Commission to be filed in the case. SEC. 4. Service and filing of other papers. (a) Service: (1) When required. Every order required by its terms to be served, every pleading subsequent to the original petition, every written motion other than one which may be heard ex parte, and every written notice, appearance, demand, offer of judgment, designation of record on appeal, and similar paper shall be served upon each of the parties affected thereby, but no service need be made on parties in default for failure to appear, except that pleadings asserting new or additional claims for relief shall be served in the manner provided for service in section 3. (2) How made. Whenever under the rules service is required or permitted to be made upon a party represented by an attorney the service shall be made upon the attorney of record (hereinafter provided for in this paragraph) unless service upon the party himself is ordered by the Commission. Service upon the attorney of record or upon a party shall be made by delivering a copy to him or by mailing it to him at his address registered with the clerk as required by section 35. Delivery of a copy within the provisions of this section means: handing it to the attorney or to the party; or leaving it at his office with his clerk or other person in charge thereof; or, if there is no one in charge, leaving it in a conspicuous place therein; or, if the office is closed or the person to be served has no office, leaving it at his dwelling house or usual place of abode with some person of suitable age and discretion then residing therein. Service by mail is complete upon mailing. (b) Proof of service. (1) File before taking action. Proof of service of papers required or permitted to be served, other than those for which a method of proof is prescribed by the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, shall be filed before action is to be taken thereon. (2) Form of. The proof shall show the time and manner of service, and may be by written acknowledgment of service, by affidavit of the person making service, by certificate of a member of the bar of this Commission, or by other proof satisfactory to the Commission. (3) Failure to make. Failure to make proof of service will not affect the validity thereof. The Commission may at any time allow the proof to be amended or supplied, unless to do so would result in material prejudice to a party. (c) Filing. All papers after the petition required to be served upon a party shall be filed with the Commission either before service or within a reasonable time thereafter.. (d) Filing with the Commission defined. The filing of pleadings and other papers with the Commission as required by these rules shall be made by filing them with the clerk of the Commission, except that a Commissioner or examiner when a claim is being heard by him may permit the papers to be filed with him, in which event he shall note thereon the filing date and forthwith transmit them to the office of the clerk. SEC. 5. Time. (a) Computation. In computing any period of time prescribed or allowed by these rules, by order of Commission, Commissioner, or examiner or by any applicable statute, the day of the act, event, or default after which the designated period of time begins to run is not to be included. The last day of the period so computed is to be included, unless it is a Saturday, Sunday, or a legal holiday in the District of Columbia, in which event the period runs until the end of the next day upon which the Commission is open for business. Legal holidays in the District of Columbia are as follows: 1st day of January, New Year's Day; Day of the inauguration of the President in every fourth year, 22d day of February, Washington's Birthday; 30th day of May, Decoration Day; 4th day of July, Independence Day; First Monday in September, Labor's Holiday; 11th day of November, Armistice Day; Any day appointed or recommended by the President of the United States as a day of public fasting or thanksgiving (Thanksgiving, generally the last Thursday in November); 25th day of December, Christmas Day. (Code of Law for the District of Columbia, sec. 1389, 31 Stat. 1405.) |