I might want to consider another way to get our mail out and/or delivered. In a ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court today in the case of U.S. Postal Service v. Konan, which stemmed from a dispute between Texas landlord Lebene Konan and her local post office, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of the U.S. Postal Service.

Konan alleged that postal workers in Euless, Texas, intentionally withheld and returned mail addressed to her and her tenants at two rental properties she owned, causing financial harm and emotional distress. She alleged that it was done for racial harassment.

After her administrative complaints failed, Konan sued the United States in federal court, asserting state law claims including nuisance, tortious interference and conversion. A federal district court dismissed her claims, citing the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA)’s postal exception, which preserves immunity for “any claim arising out of the loss, miscarriage, or negligent transmission of letters or postal matter.”

Justice Clarence Thomas in writing for the majority states that the United States enjoys sovereign immunity and cannot be sued without its consent”, citing the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) granting “sovereign immunity for a wide range of claims about mail.”

Wow, just think if the rider for the Pony Express had decided to use your mail as kindling on one of their overnight campouts, they would be protected. For those who don’t remember the Pony Express, it was an American express mail service that used relays of horse-mounted riders between Missouri and California. It was operated by the Central Overland California and Pikes Peak Express Company.

Wikipedia states that “during its 18 months of operation beginning in 1860, the Pony Express reduced the time for messages to travel between the east and west US coast to about 10 days. It became the west’s most direct means of east–west communication before the first transcontinental telegraph was established (October 24, 1861), and was vital for tying the new state of California with the rest of the United States.

Despite a heavy subsidy, Pony Express was not a financial success and went bankrupt in 18 months, when a faster telegraph service was established. Nevertheless, it demonstrated that a unified transcontinental system of communications could be established and operated year-round. When it was replaced by the telegraph, the Pony Express quickly became romanticized and became part of the lore of the Old West. Its
reliance on the ability and endurance of hardy riders and fast horses was seen as evidence of rugged American individualism of the frontier times.”

Maybe this ruling signals the U.S. Postal Service is going the way of the Pony Express?