The U.S. Supreme Court case American Commercial Lines, Inc., et al. v. Louisville & Nashville Railroad Co., et al., 1967 revolved around a dispute over damages caused by a barge collision with a railroad bridge in the Ohio River. The barge was owned by American Commercial Lines (ACL) and the bridge was owned by Louisville & Nashville Railroad Company (L&N). After an investigation, it was determined that both parties were at fault for the accident - ACL for not properly securing their barges and L&N for failing to maintain navigational lights on their bridge as required by law. However, when determining liability, Kentucky's "equal division of damages" rule came into play which stipulated that if both parties are equally at fault then they must share equal responsibility for any damage costs incurred from an incident. This resulted in each party being held responsible for half of the total repair cost. This decision led to ACL appealing to higher courts arguing that federal maritime law should supersede state laws in this matter but ultimately lost their appeal when it reached the Supreme Court who upheld Kentucky's ruling stating there is no general federal maritime rule requiring apportionment of damages according to degree of fault.

In the dissenting opinion for American Commercial Lines, Inc., et al. v. Louisville & Nashville Railroad Co. et al., Justice Fortas argued that the majority's decision to allow a railroad company to recover damages from a barge operator for an accident caused by the negligence of both parties was inconsistent with established principles of maritime law and general tort law. He contended that under these legal frameworks, when two parties are mutually at fault in causing an accident, each party should bear its own losses unless one party's conduct is so reckless or egregious as to warrant full liability. In this case, he believed there was no evidence suggesting such extreme misconduct on part of either party involved in the collision between a train and a barge on Ohio River which led to significant property damage.