In the 1918 case New York Central Railroad Company v. Porter, the U.S Supreme Court dealt with a dispute over compensation for a workplace accident. The plaintiff, Mrs. Porter, sought damages on behalf of herself and her four minor children following the death of her husband in an accident while working for New York Central Railroad Company. The company argued that they were not liable as Mr. Porter had assumed risk associated with his job when he accepted employment and was negligent himself which led to his death; thus invoking contributory negligence defense under common law principles applicable at that time in many jurisdictions across United States. However, this argument was rejected by both lower courts and eventually by Supreme Court too because Federal Employers' Liability Act (FELA) enacted by Congress in 1908 governed such cases involving interstate railroad workers instead of state laws or common law principles invoked by defendant company here. The court ruled that FELA made railroads liable for employee injuries resulting from any degree of employer negligence without regard to whether employee might have been contributorily negligent too or had assumed risks inherent to their work upon accepting employment - thereby rejecting two defenses traditionally available under common law before enactment of FELA.

The dissenting opinion in the case of New York Central Railroad Company v. Porter, 1918, argued that the majority's decision to hold a corporation liable for an employee's negligence was fundamentally flawed. The dissent contended that corporations should not be held responsible for acts they could not control or prevent and emphasized that it is unjust to punish a company for actions committed by its employees without explicit authorization or direction from management. They also pointed out potential negative consequences of this ruling on businesses and their ability to operate effectively under such liability risks. Furthermore, they questioned whether holding companies accountable would actually deter individual employees from negligent behavior in future scenarios.