WASHINGTON – A landlord in Texas believes postal workers refused to deliver mail to her properties because she’s Black, causing some tenants to move out and others to miss bills, medicine and other important mail.An appeals court allowed her to sue, despite legal protections for the Postal Service for mail delivery problems.The Supreme Court agreed April 21 to review that decision, which the federal government warned could open the door to lawsuits over the more than 300 million pieces of mail delivered each day.The case centers on immunity protections for the U.S. Postal Service for claims “arising out of the loss, miscarriage, or negligent transmission of letters or postal matter.”The New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said that doesn’t cover a postal worker’s refusal to deliver the mail, which is the heart of landlord Lebene Konan’s suit.Konan says postal workers withheld mail to some of her tenants because they did not like the idea of a Black landlord renting to white people.Konan said she submitted more than 50 complaints to the Postal Service before going to court.A postal worker delivers mail in the University Farms neighborhood of West Lafayette, Ind., on Jan. 19, 2022.The district court sided against her, but the appeals court said the terms “loss,” “miscarriage” and “negligent transmission” don’t apply to Konan’s complaint.There can be no “miscarriage,” the appeals court said, “where there was no attempt at carriage.”That’s a different interpretation than three other appeals courts have used. And the Justice Department argues the ruling would allow someone to sue anytime their mail isn’t delivered on time, as long as they claim the delay was intentional.“Congress enacted the postal exception specifically to protect the critical function of mail deliver from such disruptive litigation,” the government’s lawyers told the court.Konan’s lawyers say refusal-to-deliver cases are rare, and allowing her lawsuit to continue would not cripple the Postal Service.The case is expected to be argued this fall.This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Can landlord sue USPS for not delivering mail? Supreme Court to decide
