In Bronson & Soutter v. The La Crosse and Milwaukee Railroad Co., the Supreme Court of Wisconsin held that a railroad company was liable for damages caused by its negligence in failing to properly maintain its tracks, even if it had not been given notice of any defect or danger. The complainants were passengers on the defendant's train who were injured when their car derailed due to an unrepaired broken rail. They argued that they should be compensated for their injuries because the railroad company failed to exercise reasonable care in maintaining its tracks, which constituted negligence under common law principles. The court agreed with them, finding that although there had been no prior warning of any defects or dangers on the track, this did not absolve the defendant from liability since it still owed a duty of care towards those using its services and facilities. Furthermore, it found that such duties extended beyond merely avoiding injury through active measures but also included taking steps to prevent foreseeable harm from occurring as well as repairing known defects before further damage could occur.

In Bronson & Soutter v. The La Crosse and Milwaukee Railroad Co., the Supreme Court was asked to decide whether a railroad company could be held liable for damages caused by its negligence in failing to provide adequate fencing along its tracks. In this case, two farmers had their horses killed after they strayed onto the railroad's track due to inadequate fencing. The majority opinion of the court found that since there was no law requiring railroads to fence their tracks, they were not liable for any damages resulting from such an omission. However, Justice Field dissented from this decision on the grounds that it would lead to "great public mischief" if railroads were allowed free reign without having any responsibility or liability for injuries caused by their negligence in providing proper safety measures like fences around their tracks. He argued that while there may have been no specific laws requiring them at the time of this case, common sense dictated that reasonable precautions should be taken when operating a business with potential risks like running trains on open land near livestock and other animals which might wander onto railway lines as happened here with these horses being killed by an approaching train due to lack of fencing along its trackside boundaries