In the 1899 case of Fidelity Insurance Trust and Safe Deposit Company v. McClain, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on a dispute involving an insurance policy claim. The plaintiff, Fidelity Insurance Trust and Safe Deposit Company, had issued a life insurance policy to one Mr. McClain who later committed suicide while allegedly insane. The defendant was his widow who claimed benefits from her husband's life insurance after his death. The key issue in this case revolved around whether or not insanity could be used as a defense to deny payment under an accident insurance policy when the insured person commits suicide while supposedly insane. The court held that if it is proven beyond reasonable doubt that at the time of committing suicide, Mr.McClain was completely devoid of mental capacity due to insanity which led him to take such action without any understanding or intention; then it can be considered as caused by accidental means within terms of accident policies. Therefore, despite having clauses excluding liability for intentional self-destruction (suicide), insurers may still have obligations towards beneficiaries if they can prove that insured's act was result of uncontrollable impulse due to insanity.

In the dissenting opinion for Fidelity Insurance Trust and Safe Deposit Company v. McClain, it was argued that the majority's decision to uphold a Pennsylvania law imposing taxes on foreign corporations doing business in the state violated principles of interstate commerce. The dissent contended that this tax burdened out-of-state companies unfairly compared to their in-state counterparts, thereby disrupting free trade among states. They further asserted that such taxation could lead to retaliatory measures from other states, creating an undesirable cycle of economic protectionism contrary to national unity and prosperity. Moreover, they believed this ruling contradicted previous court decisions which had struck down similar state laws as unconstitutional under the Commerce Clause of the U.S Constitution.