Dolan v. United States Postal Service (SCOTUS 2006)

Summary

The Supreme Court held that the Federal Tort Claims Act's postal exception, 28 U.S.C. § 2680(b), does not preserve sovereign immunity for Barbara Dolan's slip-and-fall suit: 'negligent transmission of letters or postal matter' reaches only negligence causing mail to be lost or to arrive late, in damaged condition, or at the wrong address, not injuries from mail negligently placed on a porch. Reading 'transmission' in light of its companion terms 'loss' and 'miscarriage' and treating the Court's earlier Kosak analysis of postal motor-vehicle accidents as decisive, the Court concluded Congress immunized only a defined subset of postal wrongdoing and that Dolan's claim falls within the FTCA's general waiver. The Third Circuit's contrary judgment was reversed and the case remanded. Justice Thomas dissented, contending that 'transmission' bears its ordinary meaning embracing delivery and that any ambiguity must be resolved in favor of the sovereign.

Holding

Scope of the § 2680(b) postal exception. 'Negligent transmission' in 28 U.S.C. § 2680(b) does not extend beyond negligence causing mail to be lost or to arrive late, in damaged condition, or at the wrong address; it does not comprehend injuries caused by mail negligently placed so as to create slip-and-fall hazards, so Dolan's claim falls outside the exception and within the FTCA's general waiver.

Applicability of the strict-construction canon to FTCA exceptions. This case does not implicate the general rule that a waiver of sovereign immunity is strictly construed in favor of the sovereign; in the FTCA context unduly generous interpretations of the exceptions run the risk of defeating the statute's central purpose, so the proper objective is to identify 'those circumstances which are within the words and reason of the exception'—no less and no more.

Dolan v. United States Postal Service

Summary

Holding

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