The PSBCA Orders the U.S. Postal Service to Pay for its Mess

A recent Postal Service Board of Contract Appeals (PSBCA) decision provided an important reminder for everyone that even if you deliver the mail, you cannot ignore your other chores—particularly taking out the trash. In Bryant Commercial Postal, LLC v. United States Postal Service, PSBCA No. 6633, a case that sounds more like an episode of The People’s Court than a government contract claim appeal, Bryant appealed the Postal Service’s denial of Bryant’s claim for $1,700 in cleanup costs under a lease agreement between the parties.  The PSCBA agreed with Bryant, and awarded Bryant its $1,700 claim plus applicable interest.

Bryant leased a post office to the Postal Service in Louisville, Kentucky for a twenty-year term set to end in 2018. The lease included a Maintenance Rider which provided:

a. The Lessor [Bryant] shall, except as otherwise specified herein and except for damage resulting from the negligence of Postal Service agents or employees, maintain the demised premises, including the building and any and all equipment, fixtures, and appurtenances, whether severable or non-severable, furnished by the Lessor under this Lease, in good repair and tenantable condition. For the purpose of so maintaining said premises and property, the Lessor may at reasonable times, and upon reasonable notice to the facility manager, enter and inspect the same and make any necessary repairs thereto. . .

b. Lessor [Bryant] shall repaint the interior (including but not limited to the walls and ceilings) and exterior at least once every five (5) years (unless the five (5) year period is specifically extended in writing by the Contracting Officer) and at any other time that painting may become necessary as a result of fire or other casualty.

The Postal Service vacated the building in 2011 but continued to pay rent and had exclusive possession of the property.

Following the Postal Service’s vacation of the property, groups of homeless people regularly congregated and slept on the loading dock outside the post office, leaving trash, including mattresses, around the building. Graffiti was heavily painted on the exterior of the brick of the building, on windows, and on HVAC equipment.

Following complaints from surrounding neighbors, and after being rebuffed by the Postal Service when Bryant asked it to remove the trash and graffiti, Bryant cleaned up the property at a cost of $1,700.

Bryant filed a claim with the contracting officer, which was denied; Bryant then appealed that decision to the PSBCA. The PSBCA found the Postal Service liable for the accumulation of trash because lessees in exclusive possession of property have a duty to conduct normal housekeeping. Further, the PSBCA found the Postal Service responsible for the graffiti because (1) painting over the graffiti falls outside of the lessor’s maintenance obligations under the Maintenance Rider; (2) the Postal Service did not take any security precautions after it abandoned the property; and (3) the graffiti was on portions of the property not covered by the exterior paint requirement of the Maintenance Rider.

While the facts of this case are fairly unique and memorable, it highlights two important points: (1) even the government is bound by basic principles of contract interpretation and landlord-tenant law, and (2) think about leasing to the sanitation department rather than the Postal Service.