The landlord claims the postal worker refused to deliver the mail because the postal worker was black and the tenant was white. The Supreme Court will discuss whether she can sue.
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The United States Postal Service is proposing to increase the price of stamps from 73 cents to 78 cents.
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WASHINGTON – For years, all Leven Conan wanted was to receive mail.
Conan enlists the help of a government watchdog on the postal service and orders the mail to be delivered to two homes he owns in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
She filed more than 50 administrative complaints and received written confirmation from the local postal authority that she and her tenants should receive mail for tenants in the locked post office “cluster box” assigned to their home.
When that didn’t work out, Conan went to court in 2022 seeking compensation. She told the court she believed the postal worker led a “two-year campaign of racial harassment” against her because she is black and rents a room to a white person.
supreme court On October 8th, we discuss whether Konan should have a chance to prove it The postal service deliberately withheld her mail.
Trust in the postal service ‘may be at risk’
The Justice Department contends that Congress gave the U.S. Postal Service immunity for mail delivery problems for what some say were intentional as well as simple mistakes.
Otherwise, the government says, the hundreds of thousands of customer complaints the Postal Service gets each year could be turned into lame lawsuits alleging wrongdoing that are expensive to fight because it’s difficult to determine whether postal workers have nefarious intentions.
But Greg Reed, a regulatory attorney who previously represented the private contractors that make up the Postal Service’s surface transportation network, said the case will determine “whether this unique American agency can be held accountable to its customers.”
“Both confidence in the Postal Service and its continued relevance may be at risk,” he said.
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A federal district judge in Texas ruled that Conan could not sue in 2023. That’s because federal law protects the Postal Service from claims “arising from loss, miscarriage, or negligent transmission of letters or postal material.”
But when Conan appealed, the New Orleans-based 5th Circuit Court of Appeals said the language did not cover a postal worker’s refusal to deliver mail.
“If the USPS intentionally fails to deliver mail to a designated destination or mistakenly fails to deliver mail to a third party, it is not a ‘Miscarr (IED)’ because the mail was not carried at all,” the appeals court said. “Conan’s claim is not prohibited because no miscarriage occurred.”
The federal government asked the Supreme Court to resolve the issue.
The true meaning of the word “miscarriage”
Both the Justice Department and Conan’s lawyers argue that a common understanding of the term “miscarriage” works in their favor.
According to the government, miscarriage means intentional misconduct, just like other words starting with “MIS” such as “misconduct,” “cheating,” and “misdeed.”
The interpretation of “miscarriage” makes it easier to apply the law because the line between intentional and unintentional can be difficult to distinguish, the government says.
For example, what if the mail carrier really believes the residence is vacant when it isn’t? Intentional “miscarriage” could sue the Postal Service, the Justice Department asked in written arguments, saying the government had good reason to withhold Conan’s mail.
Conan’s lawyers argue that the government is trying to stretch the meaning of “miscarriage” beyond common usage. They said that some words starting with “MIS” define torts, but many others, such as “accident,” “miscommunication,” and “miscommunication,” suggest only carelessness.
And when warning of a flood of lawsuits, the government is “grossly overestimating” the financial incentive for someone to sue, her lawyers argue.
“In most cases, the $405 filing fee, not to mention the cost of hiring an attorney, will negate any potential recovery from a missing package,” they said in their legal brief.
The side of a woman who previously stumbled in the mail
According to the government, in 2024, the postal service was hit with 942 lawsuits for damages. Most were related to motor vehicle accidents involving postal workers. 73 was born from travel and falls.
In a 2006 case brought by a woman who tripped over mail left on her porch, the Supreme Court rejected the government’s concerns that the Postal Service could be inundated with frivolous anti-skid claims.
In a 7-1 decision, the court said the Postal Service must rely on normal protections against frivolous lawsuits because Congress “did not intend to exempt all postal activities.”
In a brief, three justice groups encouraged the Supreme Court to rule against the Postal Service again.
Postal workers are the federal government employees Americans interact with the most, the Taxpayer Protection Alliance told the court.
“This case illustrates the serious consequences of allowing federal agencies and their agents to believe they are above the law,” they wrote.
