Supreme Court To Hear Case of Texas Woman Who Alleges Mail Carrier Refused Delivery Due to Her Race

The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case this fall of a Texas woman who has accused her U.S. Postal Service carrier of refusing to deliver mail at her various rental properties because she is black.Realtor and insurance agent Lebene Konan claims that the suburban Dallas post office branch that covers two rental properties she owns had changed the mailbox locks and did not deliver mail to her properties for nearly three months because the letter carrier and local postmaster did not “like the idea that a black person,” owned the properties and rented to white tenants. The lawsuit states that even when Ms. Konan went to the post office to claim deliveries that she knew had arrived through the automated notification system, she was still denied receipt because the local postmaster, one of the carriers, told other employees to refuse to give her mail. She said she and her tenants missed important mail like property tax statements, doctor’s bills, and car titles, and they moved out as a result.Ms. Konan says she filed more than 50 complaints to the Postal Service before she decided to take it to court, according to USA Today. Despite legal protections that protect the Postal Service from being sued for mail delivery issues “arising out of the loss, miscarriage, or negligent transmission of letters or postal matter,” the New Orleans-based Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals allowed Ms. Konan’s suit to move forward, saying negligence is not the same as refusal to deliver parcels.There can be no “miscarriage where there was no attempt at carriage,” the court concluded. The Justice Department argues that the ruling would allow anyone to sue anytime mail is not delivered in a timely manner.“Congress enacted the postal exception specifically to protect the critical function of mail delivered from such disruptive litigation,” government lawyers wrote to the Supreme Court. Ms. Konan’s legal team has refuted the claims saying that refusal cases are rare and that her lawsuit would not bring down the Postal Service.

Supreme Court To Hear Case of Texas Woman Who Alleges Mail Carrier Refused Delivery Due to Her Race

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