Frustrated by missing mail, one American took the Postal Service to court

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: ABC News/AP

November 26, 2025, 7:02 AM


HARTFORD, Conn. -- As a general rule, it's difficult to sue the U.S. Postal Service for lost, delayed or mishandled mail. But a case before the U.S. Supreme Court involving a Texas landlord who alleges her mail was deliberately withheld for two years is looking to challenge that, in a proceeding the cash-strapped Postal Service says could prompt a deluge of lawsuits over the very common, if frustrating, phenomenon of missing mail.

That concern takes on particular resonance during the holiday season, when the volume of mail — billions of sentimental items from Christmas cards to Black Friday purchases — ramps up. The case focuses on whether the special postal exemption to the Federal Tort Claims Act applies when postal employees intentionally fail to deliver letters and packages.

“We’re going to be faced with, I think, a ton of suits about mail,” Frederick Liu, assistant to the Solicitor General for the Department of Justice, warned the justices during oral arguments last month. He predicted that if the landlord wins the case, people will infer their mail didn’t arrive “because of a rude comment that they heard, or what have you.”

The federal tort law allows a private individual to sue the federal government for monetary damages if a federal employee hurts them or damages their property by acting negligently. But Congress created multiple exceptions to the law, including one for the Postal Service, shielding it from lawsuits over missing or late mail. The exception says the post office can’t be sued for “loss, miscarriage or negligent transmission of letters or postal matter.” Definitions of those words have become the crux of the case before the Supreme Court.

Read more: https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/frustrated-missing-mail-american-postal-service-court-127889895

[Bohunk68]

1. Very interesting.

Am serving on a board overlooking the dissolution of a church and this just came up yesterday. I have been checking the mail at the church for the last 4 years, while awaiting the NY AG's ok to sell. When I checked the mail two days ago, there were two missives from Marathon Oil/Petroleum advising there is money that is owed to the church from the stock. Had not been seeing any checks from them for awhile. Wondered why they received them back. Then, I recalled that one of their postal workers had gotten busted for stealing checks to support his coke habit. It appears, that after that, they no longer sent checks with the carriers and returned them. WITHOUT TELLING US ABOUT IT. So, now, we are having to go through a bunch of crap to get the money back, and just as we are awaiting the ok for a new purchaser. Then, this morning, I see this post. ARGHH. What a headache.

[BumRushDaShow]

2. Well hopefully the fact that this suit exists will be helpful

Perhaps some kind of "carve-out" for this circumstance can be codified.