Lawsuit: FedEx Accidentally Delivered Box Of Drugs To Me, Gave Intended Recipient My Address
According to a write-up on CourthouseNews.com, the woman signed for a package on Oct. 20, believing it to be a birthday present for her daughter.
“Inside the package were assorted candles, candy, ribbons, markers, and crafts,” reads the complaint, filed in Plymouth County, MA, Court. The box also apparently contained a number of “large vacuum-packed bags” that the woman first assumed was potpourri.
And she was correct, except for the “pourri” part.
When she opened one of the bags, she realized it was full of marijuana. She contacted the police, who seized the parcel. FedEx was also notified of the package’s contents.
But according to the complaint, shortly after the police left her home with the box o’ pot, she had another visitor.
“[She] was in the kitchen when she heard a male voice coming through her unlocked front screen door asking if she had received a package that day,” reads the complaint. She claims she bolted the door and told the man, “I don’t have your package.”
He asked if FedEx had picked it up, to which she says she responded that the no longer had the package. She then closed and locked the main front door to her home.
Minutes later, the police were back, telling the woman that they had spoken with FedEx and confirmed that “FedEx had in fact disclosed to someone else information about the package.” That info, alleges the complaint, included the family’s name and address.
Three people were later arrested in conjunction with this package, but the woman says she fears that there are those that remain at large, and that “even if the three arrested smugglers are convicted, they would likely be back on the streets within several months.”
The suit seeks damages for violations of Massachusetts Privacy Laws, intentional and reckless infliction of emotional distress and negligence.
Over the years, we’ve received several complaints from FedEx customers whose packages were delivered to the incorrect address and then simply given the address of the person or business who had signed for the delivery. It actually happened to me many moons ago, when FedEx delivered a computer I had ordered to a warehouse for a major electronics retailer.
In these situations, regardless of whether the package contains anything illegal, FedEx needs to take responsibility for the screwed-up delivery and retrieve the package itself. It should not be relying on customers to go pick up the items it failed to deliver to the proper address, and it certainly should not be sharing the name and address of the unintended recipient without that person’s permission.
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