Opinion ID: 449637
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Author and Recipient of the Letter

Text: 14 Even if we disregard the uncontradicted testimony that overwhelmingly suggests that Willie Wilkins is Uncle Bill and that Uncle Bill often sent letters to his nephew Charles R. Wilkins, we have difficulty perceiving any significant ambiguity concerning the letter's authorship. Two names occupy the position in the letter ordinarily reserved for the signature. We may safely assume that one of the two belongs to the author. Because the name Ruffus is apparently misspelled, 8 we begin with the tentative assumption that Uncle Bill and not Charles Ruffus Wilkins Jr. wrote the letter. The letter's content, read in conjunction with the ALJ's findings of fact, fully supports this initial hypothesis. The letter refers twice to a woman named Queen. The context of the reference makes crystal-clear that Queen lives in the same household as the recipient of the letter. Indeed, it is undisputed that Queen is the wife of Charles Wilkins. 9 The inference is therefore inescapable that the recipient was Charles Wilkins. 15 By process of elimination, the author of the letter must be Uncle Bill. Given the ALJ's express finding that Charles was Willie's nephew, Decision at 3, RE 10, and the common wisdom that Willie and Bill are derivations of the same name, there is little room for doubt that Uncle Bill and Willie Wilkins are one and the same person. 10 The absence of even a scintilla of evidence in the record that might undermine the otherwise clear inference derived from the letter itself (without any need for crediting extrinsic evidence) renders doubt about the authorship of the letter difficult to comprehend. 16