The Supreme Court case New Orleans v. Warner in 1900 revolved around a dispute over property rights and taxation. The city of New Orleans claimed that it had the right to tax certain properties owned by Mrs. Myra Clark Gaines, which she inherited from her father Daniel Clark, who died in 1813. However, these properties were sold at auction due to unpaid taxes before they could be transferred to Mrs. Gaines's possession after a lengthy legal battle for her inheritance rights. Warner purchased some of these properties at the auction and refused to pay rent or acknowledge Mrs.Gaines as the rightful owner since he believed he legally acquired them through purchase. Mrs.Gaines filed suit against Warner, claiming that she was not liable for any back taxes on those properties because they should have been exempted during litigation over her inheritance claim. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of Warner stating that while there may have been an error made when selling off Mr.Clark’s estate due to unpaid taxes without considering pending litigation about ownership; this did not invalidate subsequent sales or transfers of those assets including their sale at public auctions for nonpayment of taxes.

The dissenting opinion in the case of New Orleans v. Warner, 1900, argued that the city of New Orleans had not violated any contractual obligations with Warner and his associates when it granted a franchise to another company for laying water pipes. The dissenters believed that the exclusive privilege given to Warner's company was only applicable within certain boundaries and did not extend throughout the entire city. They also pointed out that even if there were an infringement on this privilege, it would be inappropriate for courts to intervene as such matters should be resolved by political or legislative means rather than judicial ones. Furthermore, they contended that granting such broad monopolistic privileges could potentially infringe upon public rights and interests which are paramount over private contracts or franchises.