In the case of St. Louis & San Francisco Railroad Company v. Brown, 1915, the U.S Supreme Court was tasked with deciding whether a railroad company could be held liable for injuries sustained by an employee who fell from a moving train due to his own negligence or carelessness. The plaintiff, Mr. Brown had sued his employer under the Federal Employers' Liability Act (FELA), which holds railroads accountable for employees’ injuries caused in part by its negligence regardless of contributory negligence on part of the worker. The court ruled in favor of Mr. Brown and upheld that FELA did not require him to prove that he was free from fault but only needed to show that some act or omission on behalf of his employer contributed at least partially towards his injury. This decision established an important precedent regarding employers' liability and workers' compensation rights within high-risk industries such as railways where accidents are common despite safety measures.

In the dissenting opinion for St. Louis & San Francisco Railroad Company v. Brown, Justice Holmes disagreed with the majority's decision to hold the railroad company liable for damages sustained by an employee who was injured while on duty due to a defective car coupling mechanism. He argued that there was no evidence presented in court proving that the railroad company knew about or could have reasonably foreseen this defect and thus prevented it from causing harm. Furthermore, he contended that even if such knowledge were proven, it would not necessarily mean negligence on part of the employer since accidents can happen despite taking all reasonable precautions against them. Therefore, according to him, holding employers responsible under these circumstances would be tantamount to making them insurers of their employees' safety which is beyond what common law requires.