A lawsuit that seeks to revive a North Stonington-based Indian tribe's pursuit of federal recognition was filed without the tribe's say-so, or even knowledge, the tribe's top official said Tuesday.

Jim Cunha, chairman of the Eastern Pequot Tribal Council, said he will do whatever's necessary to withdraw the suit, which was filed last month in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

James Benny Jones Jr., a Washington, D.C., attorney and Eastern Pequot tribal member, filed the suit, which names as defendants Kenneth Salazar, secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior, and, apparently in error, "Dennis Echohawk, assistant secretary for Indian Affairs."

Larry Echo Hawk is the Interior Department's assistant secretary for Indian Affairs.

"He is not our attorney," Cunha said of Jones. "He does not legally represent us in any way."

In a letter dated Jan. 20 and filed with the court last week, Cunha informed the judge in the case that the 24-page suit "was neither reviewed nor authorized" by the tribal council prior to its submission.

"Any action taken by attorney James Benny Jones Jr. with regard to the complaint is beyond the scope of his authority," Cunha, a former employee of The Day Publishing Co., wrote in a letter to Judge Emmet G. Sullivan.

Jones did not return messages left for him by phone and email Tuesday.

Attached to Cunha's letter to the judge is a copy of a tribal resolution stating that the tribe had not hired an attorney to file a complaint on the tribe's behalf.

The resolution, passed Jan. 20 by a 10-0 vote of the council, also indicates that the tribe "seeks federal recognition through understanding and negotiation rather than formal court action."

(Tribes recognized by the federal government enjoy sovereign status and can apply for certain federal aid. Such status was essential to the Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan tribes' ability to pursue casinos.)

Unaware of Cunha's letter, top elected officials in North Stonington, Ledyard and Preston scheduled a meeting next week with state Attorney General George Jepsen to coordinate a response to the suit. As of Tuesday, the meeting was still on, a spokeswoman for Jepsen's office said.

The towns and the state were among the parties that appealed a 2002 decision by the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs to recognize the combined Eastern Pequot and Paucatuck Eastern Pequot tribes as the "Historical Eastern Pequot Tribe."

In May 2005, the Interior Board of Indian Appeals sent the decision back to the BIA for review. Five months later, the BIA rescinded the tribe's recognition.

Last October, the Eastern Pequots asked the Department of the Interior to review the BIA's reversal. Jones, in the suit he filed, claims the government never responded to the request.

Don Baur, a Washington, D.C., attorney for the towns, said the request was improper.

"Our position is that the issue is over and done with," Baur, of the firm Perkins Coie, said. "There is no procedure under federal law to revisit a final acknowledgement determination through an administrative request to the agency."

As for the unauthorized lawsuit filed on behalf of the Eastern Pequots, Baur said, "I would say that is an unusual set of circumstances.

"To see a lawsuit filed against a federal decision made over six years ago, then to see that lawsuit disavowed by the party purportedly represented as plaintiff … is unusual."

b.hallenbeck@theday.com