On March 10th, Madison County Circuit Judge William Mudge granted summary judgment in favor of Federal Express in a class action suit seeking damages against the company for its allegedly late delivery of expedited packages.
As it turns out, the original lead plaintiff, Stephen Fleisher, was unable to prove that he had been victimized by even a single less-than-expeditious delivery. A second lead plaintiff, Inland Marketing, could document only one such "injury."
In any case, what FedEx offers by way of compensation for late delivery – and to which the customer contractually agrees when filling out routing information -- is a money-back guarantee, contingent upon receipt of written notice from the customer within 30 days of a late delivery. Neither lead plaintiff had bothered to submit such a notice.
Judge Mudge affirmed that FedEx's money-back guarantee is the exclusive remedy for late deliveries.
All of which is so obvious that one wonders why Fleisher and Inland Marketing – and their attorney, Mark Goldenberg of Edwardsville -- brought such a specious suit in the first place. Even more perplexing, however, is the time it took for this bogus case to be tossed in the trash.
You won't believe it, but it took TEN years. That's a decade and a succession of judges, for the Madison County Circuit Court to finally dismiss a case that defies understanding of why it was filed in the first place.
How's that for expedited service? Whatever its occasional failings, FedEx clearly could teach the court a thing or two about promptness – not to mention money-back guarantees.
The company deserves a refund for a decade of defense against a flagrantly frivolous lawsuit. And we, the taxpayers of Madison County, deserve one for our public funding of this fiasco.
But if we have to go to court to get the refund...never mind.