The Michigan Court of Appeals is publishing W.A. Foote Memorial Hospital v. City of Jackson (Case No. 244670; June 8, 2004). The court held that at least for jurisdictional statutes, “certified mail” does not include “Federal Express.”
Judge Neff writes (excerpt):
The statute is clear and unambiguous in its provision for filing by “certified mail,” and the term must be accorded its plain and ordinary meaning. Id. at 545-546; see also Koontz v Ameritech Services, Inc, 466 Mich 304, 312; 645 NW2d 34 (2002) (when a term is undefined in the statute, this Court may consult a dictionary to discern the term’s plain and ordinary meaning). The dictionary defines certified mail as “uninsured first-class mail requiring proof of delivery.” EDS, supra at 546, quoting Random House Webster’s College Dictionary (1997). “‘Certified mail’ is a particular and definitive classification of postal service available from the US Postal Service, which is defined by federal regulation as a ‘service that provides a mailing receipt to the sender and a record of delivery at the office of address.” Bartareau v Executive Business Products, Inc, 846 SW2d 248 (Mo App, 1993), citing 39 CFR § 3001.68 (1992). Similarly, in EDS, this Court stated:
Certified mail service provides the sender with a mailing receipt, and a delivery record is maintained by the Postal Service. No record is kept at the office from which certified mail is mailed. No insurance coverage is provided. Certified mail is dispatched and handled in transit as ordinary mail. [EDS, supra, quoting the United States Post Office Domestic Mail Manual (emphasis added).]
The EDS Court noted that there was a material difference between certified mail and first-class mail:
[C]ertified mail does two things that first-class mail does not: certified mail provides the sender with a mailing receipt and a record of delivery is maintained at the post office of address. These documents provide proof of mailing, while first-class mail provides no such proof, where the date of mailing the petition is crucial to establishing the date of filing and, therefore, invoking the Tax Tribunal’s jurisdiction.
* * *The purpose of certified mailing is to provide a record of the date of mailing, because mailing is the event that invokes the jurisdiction of the Tax Tribunal, and to prevent stale claims. First-class mail does not provide any receipt showing when the mail is actually mailed by the post office. Certified mail provides the sender with a receipt and, therefore, acts as a time stamp for the petition. … Sending the petition by certified mail also protects the Tax Tribunal from fraudulent claims that a petition was timely mailed because it is the post office that provides a receipt for the sender. In this regard, all the parties are better protected by the requirement of certified mail because if the petition is never received, the sender has a receipt to prove that a petition had been timely filed and the appeal will not be lost because of a failure of the post office to deliver the original petition. [Id. at 546, 549-550 (emphasis added).]
Under the same analysis, there is a material difference between United States Postal Service certified mail and overnight priority delivery by Federal Express. Federal Express overnight priority delivery is not the equivalent of “certified mail” for purposes of invoking the jurisdiction of the Tax Tribunal.
As noted above, the dictionary defines certified mail as “uninsured first-class mail requiring proof of delivery.” Id. at 546. The term “mail” is defined as “letters, packages, etc., sent or delivered by the postal service.” Webster’s Dictionary, supra (emphasis added). In turn, “postal service” refers to the “post office,” which is “an office or station of a government postal system at which mail is received and sorted, from which it is dispatched and distributed . . . .” Id. Accordingly, in EDS, with respect to certified mail, the Court specifically referred to receipts provided and records maintained by the post office or the postal service. EDS, supra at 546-547, 550 (emphasis added).
We conclude that the plain and ordinary meaning of the term “certified mail” in MCL 205.735(2) encompasses only “mail” sent by the United States Postal Service—not delivery by private carrier services.1 Although petitioner advocates a contrary conclusion, petitioner does not argue that it mailed its petitions via Federal Express “certified mail” or that any mail carrier other than the United States Postal Service in fact provides “certified mail” delivery. Thus, petitioner’s own view belies any argument that “certified mail” is a generic term that would include Federal Express overnight priority mail within its ordinary meaning.
Footnote 1. Our conclusion is further supported by the Legislature’s provision in MCL 8.11 that whenever the term “registered mail” is used in the statutes of this state, the term shall be deemed to include the term “certified mail” which shall be postmarked. “Postmarked” refers to “an official mark stamped on mail passed through a postal system, showing the place and date of sending or receipt.” Webster’s Dictionary, supra.