Court Says Emery, Post Office Must Work Together

September 20, 2000 10:32 AM, EDT

Emery Worldwide Airlines must continue to move Priority Mail, according to a federal judge, but the U.S. Postal Service must move more quickly toward reaching an agreement that would offer the carrier better compensation for its work.

The opinion of Senior Judge Reginald W. Gibson in Washington, D.C., gave the carrier summary judgment on five of six claims. The sixth and final point was decided in favor of the Postal Service.

In that issue before the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, Emery’s lawyers asked Gibson to declare the contract in breach so that the company could walk away from it. Instead the judge supported the post office’s contention that Emery, a subsidiary of CNF Inc., must continue its work with Priority Mail in the eastern United States.

The two parties have been at loggerheads over the financial terms of the contract almost from its start in April 1997. Emery runs 10 Priority Mail facilities in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New England and Florida.

For the full story, see the Sept. 18 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.