Gibson

BACKGROUND

Gibson initiated this case by filing a complaint against UPS in March 2013. UPS demurred to the complaint, but Gibson filed a first amended complaint before the trial court ruled on the demurrer. In the first amended complaint, Gibson alleged he instructed a member of his family to post a parcel from Sacramento to an address in Charlotte, North Carolina. The family member posted the parcel at a UPS store in Sacramento for overnight delivery by next-day air service. The parcel weighed 67 pounds, cost $373.45 to ship, was assigned parcel No. 53596568, and was given a tracking number. Exhibit A to the first amended complaint is an investigation report authored by Special Agent Brian Fichtner of the State Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement (Bureau). In it, Agent Fichtner states he received a call from a UPS security representative at the UPS shipping facility in Sacramento and was told that a parcel had been audited and found to contain money. Agent Fichtner went to the facility and was presented with parcel No. 53596568, which he described as a heavily-taped, brown cardboard box approximately 18 inches in cubic dimensions. The box listed the sender as “Josh Howell,” with the…