The U.S. Supreme Court case W.P. Brown & Sons Lumber Co. et al v Louisville & Nashville Railroad Co., 1936, revolved around the issue of discriminatory freight rates by a railroad company against certain shippers in favor of others, violating the Interstate Commerce Act (ICA). The plaintiffs were lumber companies who claimed that they had been charged higher shipping rates than their competitors by the defendant, Louisville and Nashville Railroad Company. They sought reparations for these overcharges under Sections 8 and 9 of ICA which prohibit unjust discrimination between shippers or places in charges for transportation services rendered by common carriers subject to its provisions. However, the court ruled against them stating that while there was indeed differential treatment among customers based on volume discounts offered to larger clients; this did not constitute unlawful discrimination as per ICA since it didn't result in any undue preference or advantage nor did it cause substantial harm to competition or commerce overall.

In the dissenting opinion for W. P. Brown & Sons Lumber Co. v. Louisville & Nashville Railroad Co., Justice Stone argued that the majority's decision to uphold a rate increase by the railroad company was inconsistent with previous court rulings and failed to take into account important factors such as market conditions and competition among carriers, which could have justified lower rates for lumber transportation services provided by railroads in Alabama compared to those in other states. He also criticized the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) for not providing sufficient evidence or reasoning behind its approval of this rate increase, suggesting that it had merely rubber-stamped decisions made by private corporations without fulfilling its regulatory duties properly.