Minnesota woman accuses Postal Service of stamping ‘deceased’ on letter to her son in Iraq

Soldier’s mom sues over letter stamped ‘deceased’

DULUTH, Minn. — A Minnesota woman is suing the federal government after a letter she mailed to her son in Iraq was returned with the word “deceased” stamped on the envelope, even though the soldier is alive.

Joan Najbar filed the lawsuit last month in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis, claiming emotional distress and negligence.

Najbar sent her son the letter in September 2006. It was returned several weeks later with the red stamp mark.

Najbar contacted the Red Cross and learned her son had not been killed.

The government’s response to her lawsuit has not yet been filed, but the U.S. Postal Service found no evidence of negligence after Najbar filed a claim in 2008.

Her attorney says he is investigating whether Najbar’s anti-war protest on the steps of a Duluth post office days before the letter was returned had anything to do with the stamp.

Information from: Duluth News Tribune, www.duluthsuperior.com