Can USPS Claim Exemption from East Cleveland Traffic Camera Tickets?
Legal problems are everywhere. Recently, seven City of East Cleveland traffic violations (two school-zone speeding tickets and five red-light tickets) given to U.S. Post Office trucks made the news. Jennifer Beslin, senior litigation counsel for the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) stated they would not be paid. Claiming U.S. Constitutional immunity based on the Supremacy Clause. Beslin’s position is summarized in a letter to the City of East Cleveland.
What a minute, immunity from prosecution …. for red lights and speeding?
The Supremacy Clause is contained in Article VI, Clause 2 of the United States Constitution and states: “This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance thereof; and all treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the land; and the judges in every state shall be bound thereby, anything in the constitution or laws of any state to the contrary notwithstanding.”
In 1890, the United States Supreme Court in In re Neagle, 135 U.S. 1 (1890) (finding federal immunity for a U.S. marshal who shot a
person while defending a United States Supreme Court justice) established a two-prong test for federal officer immunity as to conduct alleged to be in violation of state law:
(1) Whether the federal employee was performing an act that federal law authorized such employee to perform; and
(2) Whether the employee’s actions were necessary and proper to fulfilling his or her federal duties.
In interpreting U.S. Supreme Court case law, the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has stated that federal courts should apply the Neagle two-part test. Kentucky v. Long, 837 F.2d 727, 744 (6th Cir. 1988). Much of the Long court’s analysis hings upon the “necessary and proper” prong. A great illustration of how to apply this standard in the Sixth Circuit can be found In re McShane’s Petition, 235 F. Supp. 262 (N.D. Miss. 1964) (immunity sought by the Chief U.S. Marshall from charges of breaching the peace and inducing a riot that ensued from the desegregation of the University of Mississippi).
With this understanding of the law, we return back to East Cleveland and consider the “necessary and proper” prong of the Neagle test and its application to the U.S. Postal Service. In a recent case, Tennessee v. Dodd, No. 1:08-cr-10100 (W.D. Tenn. 2009) , a mail carrier tried to use immunity defense under the Supremacy clause. The mail carrier has designated over 400 pieces of mail as undeliverable. The mail carrier was charged with five counts, four counts of theft of property under $500 and one count for theft of property over $1,000. The mail carrier asserted that his actions were subject to immunity because he acted based on his upon his training, USPS policies, and his knowledge of his route. The defendant had a good-faith belief that the mail was undeliverable. The court considered the facts, the policies, and found that:
- Given the repetitiveness of the actions over a period of time, the mail carrier’s conduct — failing to deliver 400 pieces of mail — was not a mere “mistake in judgment.”
- Further, this USPS employee’s conduct — was not a reasonable interpretation of his authorized duties.
The East Cleveland situation mirrors Dodd. The USPS has established rules and policies for its truck driving employees, the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) , the union of city delivery letter carriers working for the United States Postal Service, posts a copy of these rules and are contained in the Postal Employee’s Guide to Safety Handbook, EL-814 (August 2006). This Handbook states that employees “must obey all state and local traffic laws when driving any Postal Service vehicle. You will receive no special privileges or rights as a Postal Service driver. Police citations for traffic violations are your personal responsibility.” (Section X (B), p. 34)
Here are some questions for the City of East Cleveland:
- Were these seven traffic violations repeat violations for the same truck or USPS employee?
- How much over the posted speed limit were the postal trucks traveling?
