Najbar v.United States, No. 10-3015 (8th Cir. 2011)
Annotate this CasePlaintiff filed suit under the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA), 28 U.S.C. 2671 et seq., asserting four state law claims of action when she received an undelivered letter that she had written to her son, a solider serving in the Army, where the envelope was stamped in red ink: "DECEASED." After some investigation, plaintiff's son was, in fact, alive. As a result of receiving the erroneously stamped letter, plaintiff suffered severe emotional distress requiring medical treatment. At issue was whether the lawsuits should be dismissed on the ground that the United States' sovereign immunity deprived the district court of subject matter jurisdiction. The court held that the postal-matter exception barred the lawsuit and consequently, the court need not address the misrepresentation exception. Accordingly, the court affirmed the judgment of the district court.
Court Description: Civil case - Federal Tort Claims Act. In a suit alleging the Post Office was liable for negligence and intentional infliction of emotional distress when it returned, incorrectly stamped "DECEASED," a letter which plaintiff had sent to her soldier son in Iraq, the postal-matter exception contained in 28 U.S.C. Sec. 2680(b) barred the suit, and the district court did not err in dismissing the action for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction.
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