(a) The Director or Superintendent shall consider each application, all documentation, and when applicable, tribal recommendations or determinations.

(b) The Director or Superintendent, when tribal recommendations or determinations are applicable, shall accept the recommendations or determinations of the Tribal Committee unless clearly erroneous.

(1) If the Director or Superintendent does not accept the tribal recommendation or determination, the Tribal Committee shall be notified in writing, by certified mail, return receipt requested, or by personal delivery, of the action and the reasons therefor.

(2) The Tribal Committee may appeal the decision of the Director or Superintendent not to accept the tribal recommendation or determination. Such appeal must be in writing and must be filed pursuant to part 62 of this chapter.

(3) Unless otherwise specified by law or in a tribal governing document, the determination of the Director or Superintendent shall only affect the individual's eligibility to share in the distribution of judgment funds.

(c) The Director or Superintendent, upon determining an individual's eligibility, shall notify the individual, parent or guardian having legal custody of a minor, or sponsor, as applicable, in writing of the decision. If an individual files applications on behalf of more than one person, one notice of eligibility or adverse action may be addressed to the person who filed the applications. However, the notice must list the name of each person involved. Where an individual is represented by a sponsor, notification of the sponsor of eligibility or adverse action shall be considered to be notification of the individual.

(1) If the Director or Superintendent determines that the individual is eligible, the name of the individual shall be placed on the roll.

(2) If the Director or Superintendent determines that the individual is not eligible, he/she shall notify the individual's parent or guardian having legal custody of a minor, or sponsor, as applicable, in writing by certified mail, to be received by the addressee only, return receipt requested, and shall explain fully the reasons for the adverse action and the right to appeal to the Secretary. If correspondence is sent out of the United States, registered mail will be used. If a certified or registered notice is returned as “Unclaimed” the Director or Superintendent shall remail the notice by regular mail together with an acknowledgment of receipt form to be completed by the addressee and returned to the Director or Superintendent. If the acknowledgment of receipt is not returned, computation of the appeal period shall begin on the date the notice was remailed. Certified or registered notices returned for any reason other than “Unclaimed” need not be remailed.

(d) Except as provided in paragraph (c)(2) of this section, a notice of adverse action is considered to have been made and computation of the appeal period shall begin on the earliest of the following dates:

(1) Of delivery indicated on the return receipt;

(2) Of acknowledgment of receipt;

(3) Of personal delivery; or

(4) Of the return by the post office of an undelivered certified or registered letter.

(e) In all cases where an applicant is represented by an attorney, the attorney shall be recognized as fully controlling the application on behalf of the applicant and service on the attorney of any document relating to the application shall be considered to be service on the applicant. Where an applicant is represented by more than one attorney, service upon one of the attorneys shall be sufficient.

(f) To avoid hardship or gross injustice, the Director or Superintendent may waive technical deficiencies in applications or other submissions. Failure to file by the deadline does not constitute a technical deficiency.