The U.S. Supreme Court case Rail & River Coal Company v. Yaple, et al., constituting the Industrial Commission of Ohio in 1914 revolved around a dispute over workers' compensation laws in Ohio. The plaintiff, Rail & River Coal Company, challenged the constitutionality of these laws on grounds that they violated due process and equal protection rights under the Fourteenth Amendment by forcing employers to compensate employees for work-related injuries regardless of fault or negligence. The defendant was the Industrial Commission of Ohio which enforced these laws. However, the Supreme Court upheld their constitutionality ruling that such legislation was within a state's police power to protect health and safety at workplaces and did not violate any constitutional provisions as it provided just compensation for both parties involved - employer and employee alike.

In the dissenting opinion for Rail & River Coal Company v. Yaple, et al., constituting the Industrial Commission of Ohio, Justice Holmes argued that there was no constitutional violation in this case. He contended that while it is true that a state cannot deprive a person or corporation of their property without due process of law, he did not believe this principle applied to the situation at hand. The company had willingly entered into an industry regulated by public laws and should therefore be subject to those regulations as long as they are reasonable and designed to protect workers' safety. In his view, requiring companies to install safety devices on machinery used in coal mining does not constitute deprivation of property but rather falls within the scope of legitimate regulation under police power for health and safety purposes.