By Ricardo Lezama 
A civil case filed in New York City seeks damages over FedEx packages that went undelivered last year but were labeled as delivered.
According to Ryan Wan, a self represented plaintiff, who appeared in NY Civil Court on March 13th for a preliminary hearing, Fed EX falsely marked as delivered a pricey 2000 dollar order. Wan alleged the packages were never actually delivered to his New York City home. Wan also alleges that these packages could have been stolen and has video surveillance depicting an empty roadway and porch that is timestamped with the date and time that FEDEX labeled as the delivery date.
Driver Error or Malintentioned Act?
A variety of things could have happened that prevented the package from being delivered. The package could have gotten mislabeled as belonging on a drivers route, but not actually been present in their truck.
As a result, for many delivery drivers, a common last resort solution to a tricky route is to label the package as delivered because there may be less workable means within delivery driver apps for making the report. Nonetheless, the end result is the same for the consumer of delivery services.
Arguments & Settlement
At the time of writing, a settlement may be in the works, as the packages were worth several thousand dollars. However, FedEx representatives had intended to not rectify any of the damages, alleging that the driver was at fault, not the company. FedEx’s argument that the company is not liable for damages due to the driver’s actions likely hinges on 49 U.S. Code § 14706, known as the Carmack Amendment to the Interstate Commerce Act. This federal statute governs liability for loss, damage, or delay of goods in interstate transportation.
Nevertheless, there is some ambiguity around what amount of control FedEx can exert over their drivers. This leaves them quite exposed to similar incidents where insufficient validation of their marked as delivered package process leaves customers hanging.