In the case of St. Joseph & Grand Island Railway Company v. Moore in 1916, the U.S Supreme Court ruled on a dispute involving damages for personal injuries sustained by an employee while working for a railway company. The plaintiff, Mr. Moore, was injured due to alleged negligence on part of his employer and sought compensation under the Federal Employers' Liability Act (FELA). The defendant argued that FELA did not apply as it only covered interstate commerce employees and at the time of injury, Mr.Moore was engaged in intrastate work - repairing tracks within Nebraska state lines rather than between states. The court held that even though he was involved in intrastate work at the time of injury, since his general employment duties included both types of tasks (interstate and intrastate), he could be considered as being employed in interstate commerce overall. Therefore, FELA applied to him making his employer liable for damages resulting from their negligence.

In the dissenting opinion for St. Joseph & Grand Island Railway Company v. Moore, it was argued that the majority's decision to hold the railway company liable for damages caused by a fire started by sparks from one of its locomotives was unjustified and inconsistent with previous rulings on similar cases. The dissenting justices believed that there wasn't sufficient evidence to prove negligence on part of the railway company or establish a direct causal link between its operations and the fire damage suffered by Moore's property. They also pointed out that railroads are not insurers against all possible harm resulting from their operation but should only be held accountable when they fail in their duty of care - something which, according to them, hadn't been adequately demonstrated in this case.