County dismisses lawsuit against Cape Girardeau mail service

Cape Girardeau County Prosecuting Attorney Morley Swingle has dismissed a lawsuit filed against a mail carrier that went out of business but owed the county more than $4,000 in prepaid postal services.

On Sept. 22, the county sued Commercial Mail Services Inc., 2089 Bessie St., which handled bulk mailing services for the county. A lawsuit said the county had paid the company money in advance each month for services.

When the business told the county Aug. 18 that it was closing, the county demanded the return of $4,480.51 advanced for unused August postage. After owner Earl E. Burnett did not respond to repeated requests for return of the money, the county filed the lawsuit.

County officials had feared that if the company went bankrupt it might have trouble recovering the money.

But since the company is now defunct and has no assets, Swingle said a judgment against Commercial Mail Services Inc. would be worthless.

Swingle added that after the county filed the lawsuit, Burnett filed for bankruptcy and his personal debts are being discharged through the bankruptcy process. The lawsuit was voluntarily dismissed Jan. 29, and the case was officially dismissed Feb. 2.

"The bottom line is that the county cannot recover the debt," Swingle said. "There is no blood in this turnip, which is the best defense to a civil lawsuit."

When reached for comment, a person answering the telephone number listed as Burnett's said he was not a resident there.

Commercial Mail Services Inc. had handled the county's routine daily mail and mass mailings of items such as tax bills and personal property assessment forms. From the time the business closed until mid-November, county Treasurer Roger Hudson and a staff member handled about 9,000 pieces of mail each month.

The county has since begun using Premium Regional Mail of Jackson for its mailing services.

"There wasn't much else we could do," Presiding Commissioner Gerald Jones said. "I'm never happy about losing taxpayer funds or taxpayer money.

"We could have used that money for a lot of other things. But from the legal side there was nothing we could do about it. So you just move on."

bblackwell@semissourian.com

388-3628

Pertinent addresses:

2089 Bessie St., Cape Girardeau, MO

1 Barton Square, Jackson, MO