Dolan V. United States Postal Service Case Summary

In the case Dolan v. United States Postal Service, Barbara Dolan filed a suit against the United States Postal Service for injuries she incurred after tripping over some mail that was delivered on her porch by the United States Postal Service. The U.S. Government claimed that they had sovereign immunity in this case. The waivers of sovereign immunity for the Postal Service are as follows "claims against the United States, for money damages, accruing on and after January 1, 1945, for injury or loss of property, or personal injury or death caused by the negligent or wrongful act or omission of any employee of the Government while acting within the scope of his office or employment, under circumstances where the United States, if a private person, would be liable to the claimant in accordance with the law of the place where the act or omission occurred." 28 U.S.C. §1346(b)(1) (Dolan v. United States Postal Service). However, the exceptions of these waivers which give the Postal Service sovereign immunity are “any claim arising out of the loss, miscarriage, or negligent transmission of letters or postal matter.” (Dolan v. United States Postal Service). Both the District Court and the Court of Appeals dismissed the case, they both believed that the Postal Service had sovereign immunity because Dolan’s injuries were part of the …show more content…
However, Justice Thomas dissented and stated that he agreed with the prior courts’ rulings that the Postal Service did have sovereign immunity because Dolan’s injuries were part of the exception to the waiver “negligent transmission of mail” (Dolan v. United States Postal