UPS Failed to Reimburse Plaintiff for Insured Package Lost in the Mail, Class Action Says

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A Washington consumer has filed a proposed class action that alleges UPS refused to reimburse him after it lost his insured package based on a disclaimer that was “buried in a long list” of terms and conditions.

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The nine-page lawsuit says that after UPS lost the plaintiff’s shipment containing 11 one-ounce American Gold Eagle coins worth over $25,000, the company denied the man’s insurance claim, citing a part of its “excessively complex and impenetrable” terms and conditions stating that UPS does not cover the shipment of currency or precious metals.

On January 22, 2022, the plaintiff entered a contract with UPS for the interstate shipment of his gold coins to a buyer in Texas, the suit relays. During the company’s online shipment process, the man was required to pay an “additional option fee” of $243.75 to insure the package in the event of loss or damage, the case says. Because of the declared value of the contents, he was also required to hand-deliver the shipment directly to a UPS agent who was informed at the time of pickup what the package contained and that it was insured, the complaint adds.

As the filing tells it, the plaintiff received an automated message from UPS on February 18 informing him that the company had lost the package. Per the lawsuit, the man filed a claim for reimbursement, and after months of delay and countless hours trying to navigate UPS’s “impossibly frustrating phone maze,” he was finally advised that his claim had been denied on the basis that the contents of his shipment were not covered under the company’s terms and conditions.

At no point did the online shipping system or UPS pickup agent disclose to the plaintiff that the company did not insure the shipment of currency or precious metals, the suit contends.

What’s more, this denial of liability is located amidst the company’s “hundreds of pages” of terms and conditions listing what claims UPS will not honor, the case relays.

According to the complaint, UPS could easily adjust its online system to examine a consumer’s inputted package contents and provide a warning if the item would not be covered in the event of loss or damage.

The filing also claims that UPS fails to reimburse consumers for the additional option fees they paid to insure their shipments.

“By not making any effort to parse the goods being shipped by the public, UPS collects hundreds of millions of dollars of ‘additional option fees’ (which clients assume are insurance premiums) only later to have the claims denied,” the case charges. “This is blackletter law fraud.”

The lawsuit looks to represent anyone in the United States who purchased insurance for shipping items of value via UPS, suffered a loss and has been denied compensation by the defendant.

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