The Keator Lumber Company v. Thompson case in 1891 revolved around a dispute over land ownership and the right to cut timber on it. The Keator Lumber Company claimed that they had purchased the land from an individual who had received it through a patent (a government grant). However, Thompson argued that he was the rightful owner of the property as he had been living there for several years prior to this alleged purchase by Keator Lumber Co., making improvements and paying taxes on it. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of Thompson, stating that his possession and improvement of the land gave him superior title under Mississippi law, even if there were irregularities with how he initially acquired it. This ruling upheld previous decisions recognizing squatter's rights or "adverse possession" - where someone can gain legal ownership of a property by occupying it continuously without being challenged by its legal owner.

In the dissenting opinion for Keator Lumber Company v. Thompson, it was argued that the majority's decision to uphold a lower court ruling against Keator Lumber Company was incorrect. The dissenting justices believed that there were significant errors in how the trial had been conducted and these mistakes had unfairly prejudiced the jury against Keator. They also disagreed with how certain evidence had been interpreted by both the trial court and their fellow Supreme Court Justices, arguing this interpretation did not align with established legal principles or precedent cases. Furthermore, they felt that some of this evidence should have been deemed irrelevant and therefore excluded from consideration during deliberations because it did not directly pertain to whether or not Keator owed money to Thompson as claimed in his lawsuit.