The Tuba City office remains busy serving Tuba City and the surrounding communities, but we are also gearing up for a major development, the relocation of our office to a new site on Main Street next to Westerners True Value. Greyhills Academy High School, the current site of the Tuba City DNA office, has been a great location for many reasons, but it has presented several challenges as well. First and foremost, our current office is located on the third floor of a building with no elevator, which has restricted access to the elderly and disabled, two significant segments of the population we serve.

The new location will erase our concerns about access. The site is situated prominently in the middle of town, next to the Social Security Administration, Wells Fargo, the new courthouse, the DMV, the police station, the new jail, and many other agencies important to our community. The move would not have been possible without the support of the To’Nanees’Dizi Chapter, which spearheaded our move from Day One. The Chapter issued a resolution earlier this year supporting our move to the new business site. It also helped DNA schedule and pay for all of the necessary surveys and clearances that might have otherwise stalled the relocation. Finally, the Chapter also provided DNA with fencing materials and the temporary building that DNA will use until it can create a permanent structure on the site.  DNA is indebted to the To’Nanees’Dizi Chapter, particularly Executive Manager Priscilla Littlefoot, for their generosity and determination. DNA must also thank Mr. Joe Thompson, DNA Chapter representative, for working closely with the Chapter on behalf of DNA to get this process started.

The transition to the new site will present challenges, one being that the temporary building is much smaller than the space we occupy in our current location. We look forward to meeting with you at our new location on Main Street, Tuba City next year. 

DNA's Tuba City office helped 300+ clients to save or recover nearly $190,000 last year!

The Tuba City office helped 307 Navajo clients between Oct 1, 2010 and Sept 30 2011. The office was operating with only two licensed attorneys, one of them brand new, after long-time Tribal Court Advocate Nellie Sloan’s devastating death in November 2010. Still DNA managed to assist more than 300 clients with these types of issues: 

Tuba City Funding

 

The two attorneys recovered $189,634 for those clients in that time period:  winning lump sums and/or monthly payments, and keeping clients from having to pay what they were being sued for.

DNA Protects Right to Traditional Burial

DNA attorneys John-Michael Partesotti and Brian Webb helped an elderly couple after the untimely death of their son. Against their wishes and Navajo custom, their estranged daughter-in-law tried to cremate his remains, which would have sent his spirit into the next world with the sentiment that his life held no more value than a piece of trash. DNA was able to secure a Permanent Injunction preventing the cremation, and the couple eventually buried their son in accordance with Navajo custom and tradition.

In another case, attorney Brian Webb represented a 49-year-old Navajo man to keep his Unemployment Compensation, and to eliminate an alleged overpayment.  The client briefly received Unemployment benefits, when he found a job as a general laborer in Colorado.  Having no place to stay in Colorado, he slept in his vehicle to apply for and start the job.  After only one day of work, his car broke down, but he couldn't fix it, and didn't have the money to pay a mechanic, so he hitch-hiked home to Arizona.  Having been unable to keep the job in Colorado, and not finding other work, he went back onto Unemployment, for nearly a year.  When AZ Dept of Economic Security reviewed his case, they decided that he left the Coloardo job "voluntarily without good cause," was therefore ineligible, and should be forced to repay $9,543 in UI benefits.  Brian represented him before an administrative law judge with AZ-DES, successfully arguing that he left the sawmill job for a "compelling personal reason" and he should therefore not be disqualified, nor should he have an overpayment.

In another unemployment case, Brian represented a 52-year-old Navajo-speaking client to stay eligible for unemployment benefits.  She normally got benefits after working on a seasonal basis at one motel, and so she was receiving benefits (less than $1,000 per month to support herself, her disabled husband and their child).  She decided to try a winter job at another hotel as a laundress, but because the fumes were unbearable, and her employer refused to better ventilate the laundry room, after 3 days, she quit.  AZ DES found that she was overpaid and committed fraud in collecting unemployment.  Brian represented her in an administrative hearing, arguing that although she was not eligible for unemployment benefits for the week that she worked, she did not defraud AZ DES; and that she did not leave the second job voluntarily, because work conditions were intolerable.  The judge agreed and she had to pay back the one week of benefits; but she had no criminal liability, and remains eligible for Unemployment.

Both attorneys defended a Navajo woman's mobile home from repossession.  The mortgage company was trying to repossess based on a clause in a 2006 Repossession Order that, in the event of a future breach, they could repo without going back through court proceedings.  When she got 2 months behind on her payments (because she's now living on only $28,750 per year in unemployment benefits to support her whole family), the finance company was threatening to repossess.  With the invaluable assistance of volunteer law school interns, DNA filed a Motion for a Temporary Restraining Order and Prelim Injunction, arguing that the Order itself was a violation of due process and Navajo repossession laws.  Temporary orders were issued by the court, keeping her and her 6 children in that trailer, which was the family's only place to live. 

Attorneys repair Moenave and wire it for electricity.

The Tuba City attorneys have put so much into DNA:  After decades of no electricity in the DNA attorney housing (much of that time, the building and land were under the “Bennett Freeze” as part of the Navajo/Hopi land dispute, and so improvements were illegal!), Brian and his father wired much of the living area for electricity; since that initial push, Brian taught John-Michael about wiring, and they’ve spent many weekends finishing the wiring in the house.  We’re working with the Tuba City Chapter to pay for APS to install a new power pole or two, and actually attach the electricity to the house.