In the 1943 case of Brady v. Southern Railway Co., the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of Southern Railway, overturning a lower court's decision that had awarded damages to Mrs. Brady for her husband’s death in a train accident while he was working as an employee for the railway company. The Supreme Court held that under Federal Employers' Liability Act (FELA), negligence must be proven and it is not enough to show only that injury or death could have been avoided if certain precautions were taken by employers. In this case, there was no evidence showing any specific act of negligence on part of Southern Railway which directly caused Mr.Brady's fatal accident; hence, his widow could not claim compensation under FELA.

In the dissenting opinion for Brady v. Southern Railway Co., Justice Robert H. Jackson argued that the majority's decision to hold a railroad company liable for an employee's death due to negligence was unjustified and inconsistent with previous rulings of the court. He contended that there was no evidence showing that the railway company had breached its duty of care towards its employees, as it had provided safety equipment and training, which were ignored by some workers including Brady who died in an accident while working on a moving train against instructions not to do so. Furthermore, he criticized the majority’s reliance on circumstantial evidence rather than direct proof of negligence. According to him, this approach could lead to arbitrary decisions based on speculation rather than concrete facts or established legal principles.