In Railroad Company v. White, the United States Supreme Court was asked to decide whether a railroad company was liable for damages caused by a train accident. The plaintiff, White, was a passenger on the train when it collided with another train. White was injured in the accident and sued the railroad company for damages. The Supreme Court held that the railroad company was liable for the damages caused by the accident. The Court reasoned that the railroad company had a duty to exercise reasonable care in the operation of its trains and that it had breached this duty by failing to take proper precautions to prevent the accident. The Court also held that the railroad company was liable for the damages caused by the accident, even though the accident was caused by the negligence of another train's engineer. The Court's decision established that railroad companies are liable for damages caused by their negligence, even if the negligence of another party contributed to the accident. This decision has been cited in numerous cases since then, and it has become an important precedent in the area of railroad liability.

Justice Field delivered the dissenting opinion in Railroad Company v. White, arguing that the majority's decision was contrary to established precedent and would lead to a dangerous expansion of corporate power. He argued that Congress had not intended for corporations to be able to sue individuals on their own behalf, as this could lead them down a slippery slope where they were granted more rights than natural persons. Furthermore, he noted that allowing such suits would give corporations an unfair advantage over individual citizens who lacked legal representation or resources with which to defend themselves against corporate claims. Finally, Justice Field pointed out that if Congress had wanted corporations to have the right of action it claimed in this case then it should have explicitly stated so when passing relevant legislation rather than leaving it up for interpretation by courts.