Supreme Court: Woman Who Slipped on Mail Can Sue

By Brittany Golledge

Published on February 28, 2006

The plaintiff, Barbara Nolan, filed suit against the U.S. Postal Service after suffering wrist and back injuries from a fall on her front porch. Nolan claims a postal employee acted negligently by leaving a stack of mail directly in her path.

The ruling comes on the heels of a lower court decision to throw out the case on the grounds that the U.S. Postal Service is immune from lawsuits relating to delivery accidents and injuries.

According to the majority opinion, issued by Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, federal law was never meant to shield the postal service from liability over negligent delivery practices.

Though attorneys for the federal government raised the possibility of an inundation of frivolous slip-and-fall lawsuits during trial arguments, Kennedy rejected the argument, pointing out that all businesses making home deliveries share the same risk of lawsuit, and the U.S. Postal Service should be no exception.

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