"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."
""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.""
A Texas landlord alleges postal employees deliberately withheld her mail for two years, prompting Supreme Court review of whether the postal exemption to the Federal Tort Claims Act bars suits for intentional nondelivery. The Postal Service and Justice Department warn that allowing such suits could produce a surge of litigation over common missing-mail incidents, especially during high-volume periods like holidays. The FTCA exempts the Postal Service from claims for "loss, miscarriage or negligent transmission of letters or postal matter," and the precise reach of those words is now contested. Justices expressed concern about opening the door to frivolous claims while questioning the exemption's scope.
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