Hey Happy....I don't know if this can help but if you can force the issue and get recognized as a dissenter (in spite of the timing technicality) the judgement from the courts might not come out until the new year. Check out my post from yesterday on the NOBO list.

Additionally, I think that legally (not sure) the official time of the action is based on "when it was sent i.e. postal mark" as opposed to when it was received, primarily because you cannot be held responsible for the postal delivery system given that it is out of your control...power outages, weather related delays etc...

If many of us fight for our rights as shareholders, the courts might see how Cliffs/Spider were in colusion to unfairly minimize the number of dissenter and thus reduce their payout. Goodluck

LP