Mary Ronkendorff brought a case against James N. Taylor's Lessee to the Supreme Court in 1830. The dispute was over whether or not Mary had been illegally evicted from her land by Taylor’s lessee, as she claimed that he did not have the right to do so under Virginia law. The court ruled in favor of Mary and found that she had indeed been wrongfully removed from her property, as it was determined that only those with legal title could evict someone from their land according to Virginia statutes at the time. This ruling set an important precedent for future cases involving similar disputes between landowners and tenants, establishing clear guidelines for who has authority when it comes to eviction proceedings in accordance with state laws.

In the dissenting opinion of Mary Ronkendorff v. James N. Taylor's Lessee, Justice Story argued that the Court should have granted a writ of error to review an earlier decision by the Circuit Court for Maryland which held that a deed from Ronkendorff was void due to her lack of capacity as an unmarried woman at the time it was executed. He reasoned that since she had been married before executing said deed and thus acquired full legal capacity, there was no reason why she could not be allowed to challenge its validity in court. Furthermore, he noted that even if her marriage occurred after execution of said deed, this would still not render it invalid under Maryland law because such marriages were considered valid retroactively unless they were declared otherwise by statute or judicial decree; neither existed in this case. In conclusion, Justice Story believed granting a writ of error would have been appropriate given these circumstances and urged his fellow justices to reconsider their ruling on this matter.