In the case of Osborne v. Missouri Pacific Railway Company, 1892, the United States Supreme Court ruled in favor of the railway company. The plaintiff, Mr. Osborne had sued for damages after a fire from the defendant's locomotive burned his property located near their railroad track in Kansas City. However, under Kansas law at that time, railroads were not liable for such fires unless negligence could be proven - which was not demonstrated by Mr. Osborne during trial proceedings. The court held that while it is true that railways must exercise due diligence to prevent setting fires through sparks emitted from their engines and are responsible if they fail to do so; however this rule does not apply when there is no proof of negligence on part of railway company or its employees. Furthermore, Justice Brewer noted that even though some states have laws making railroads absolutely liable for damage caused by such fires regardless of any evidence regarding care or neglect; those statutes cannot control decisions made based upon common-law principles in courts where those specific laws don't exist.

In the dissenting opinion for Osborne v. Missouri Pacific Railway Company, Justice Brewer argued that the court majority had misinterpreted the law and wrongly decided in favor of the railway company. He contended that under common law principles, employers are responsible for providing a safe working environment to their employees. This includes ensuring safety from harm caused by fellow employees' negligence or incompetence during work-related activities. In this case, he believed that an employee's injury resulted from another worker's negligence while performing duties assigned by their mutual employer - thus making it an issue of workplace safety rather than personal dispute between two individuals as suggested by the majority ruling. Therefore, according to Justice Brewer’s interpretation of liability laws and precedents set in previous cases involving similar circumstances, Missouri Pacific Railway should have been held accountable for its employee's injuries.