The U.S. Supreme Court case Plymouth Coal Company v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in 1913 revolved around the issue of whether a state could regulate private coal mines and mandate safety measures, including providing an escape tunnel for miners. The Plymouth Coal Company argued that this was unconstitutional as it violated their rights under the Fourteenth Amendment's due process clause by imposing undue financial burden on them without sufficient public benefit. However, the court ruled in favor of Pennsylvania stating that such regulations were within its police powers to ensure health and safety standards for workers. It held that states have broad authority to enact laws protecting worker’s welfare even if they impose costs on businesses, thus upholding the constitutionality of mine safety laws.

In the dissenting opinion for Plymouth Coal Company v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, it was argued that the state law requiring coal companies to pay a certain amount per ton mined as compensation for potential injuries or deaths of employees infringed upon constitutional rights. The justice believed that this legislation violated both due process and equal protection clauses by unfairly targeting one specific industry with an arbitrary financial burden not imposed on other industries. Furthermore, they contended that such laws should be based on actual damages rather than hypothetical ones, arguing against the principle of collective liability in favor of individual responsibility. They also expressed concern about the potential negative economic impact on businesses forced to bear these costs without any direct correlation to their safety practices or accident rates.