In the case of Calmar Steamship Corp. v. United States, 1952, the U.S Supreme Court was tasked with determining whether or not a ship owner could be held liable for damages to cargo caused by an inherent defect in the ship unknown to both parties at time of contract. The court ruled that under section 1304(1) and (2) of Carriage Of Goods By Sea Act (COGSA), a carrier is exempt from liability for loss resulting from "act, neglect, or default" by its agents in navigation or management; however it's still responsible for any damage arising from unseaworthiness before and at beginning of voyage even if neither carrier nor shipper knew about it when they made their contract. In this particular case, Calmar Steamship Corporation had chartered one of its vessels to transport goods owned by the United States government but due to an undiscovered defect in boiler tubes which led to explosion causing damage on cargo carried onboard during voyage. The court found that despite lack knowledge regarding defects prior shipping agreement being signed between two parties involved here - namely US Government & aforementioned corporation itself – latter party should bear all costs associated with said incident as per provisions laid down within COGSA.

In the dissenting opinion for Calmar Steamship Corp. v. United States, it was argued that the majority's decision to uphold a wartime policy of reimbursing ship owners only for actual expenses incurred during repairs, rather than allowing them to profit from insurance payouts as well, was unjust and inconsistent with previous rulings. The dissenters believed that this interpretation unfairly penalized ship owners who had taken out insurance policies on their vessels by denying them any benefit from those policies in case of damage or loss. They also pointed out that under normal circumstances, an insured party is entitled to keep any insurance proceeds even if they exceed the cost of repairs or replacement - a principle known as indemnity. Therefore, they felt that applying a different standard in this case simply because it involved government contracts during wartime was arbitrary and unfair.