In the 1915 case of Rio Grande Western Railway Company v. Stringham, the U.S Supreme Court ruled in favor of the railway company. The dispute arose when a train owned by Rio Grande Western Railway collided with a wagon driven by Mr. Stringham at an unguarded crossing, resulting in his death. His widow sued for damages on behalf of herself and their children, arguing that it was negligent to leave such crossings unattended without any warning signals or barriers. The court held that while railroads have a duty to maintain safe crossings, this does not extend to providing guards or signals at every rural crossing as it would be unreasonable and impractical due to cost implications and low traffic volumes often associated with such locations. Furthermore, they noted that Mr.Stringham had been familiar with this particular crossing which he used regularly; hence he should have exercised caution knowing there were no safeguards present.The court concluded that his failure to look out for approaching trains constituted contributory negligence absolving the railway company from liability.

In the dissenting opinion for Rio Grande Western Railway Company v. Stringham, it was argued that the majority's decision to hold the railway company liable for damages caused by a fire started by one of its locomotives failed to consider key elements of negligence law. The dissent emphasized that there was no evidence presented in court proving that the railway company had acted negligently or recklessly in operating its locomotive, nor any proof showing they could have reasonably foreseen and prevented such an incident from occurring. Furthermore, it was pointed out that fires can be sparked by trains under normal operation conditions due to unavoidable circumstances like sparks produced when brakes are applied or pieces of hot metal falling off moving parts - events which cannot always be controlled even with utmost care and diligence on part of train operators. Therefore, according to this view, holding companies responsible for all damage resulting from such incidents would place an unfair burden on them and potentially disrupt railroad operations nationwide.