Postal Service v. Konan
607 U. S. 391 (2026) · 2/24/26
The United States retains sovereign immunity for claims arising out of the intentional nondelivery of mail because both “miscarriage” and “loss” of mail under the Federal Tort Claims Act’s postal exception, 28 U. S. C. §2680(b), can occur as a result of the Postal Service’s intentional failure to deliver the mail.
Edition: slip opinion
Voices: Syllabus — prepared by the Reporter of Decisions · Justice Thomas delivered the opinion of the Court. · Justice Sotomayor, with whom Justice Kagan, Jus- tice Gorsuch, and Justice Jackson join, dissenting.
Respondent Lebene Konan and the local post office in Euless, Texas, had an extended dispute concerning mail delivery to two rental properties owned by Konan.Konan alleged that, among other things, United States Postal Service employees intentionally withheld her mail and interfered with its delivery.After administrative complaints proved unsuccessful, Konan sued the United States in federal court, bringing various state-law tort claims alleging that the United States Postal Service intentionally and wrongfully withheld her mail.The District Court dismissed Konan’s complaint pursuant to the…
Held: The United States retains sovereign immunity for claims arising out of the intentional nondelivery of mail because both “miscarriage” and “loss” of mail under the FTCA’s postal exception can occur as a result of the Postal Service’s intentional failure to deliver the mail.Pp. 398–406. (a) The postal exception reflects Congress’s judgment that redress for “harms” of “the sort primarily identified with the Postal Service’s func- tion of transporting mail throughout the United States” should not come from potentially burdensome tort suits.Dolan v. Postal Service, 546 U. S. 481, 489.P. 398.…Read it in the reading room ›