In St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern Railway Company v. McGee, the United States Supreme Court was asked to decide whether a contract between a railroad company and a passenger was enforceable. The passenger, McGee, had purchased a ticket from the railroad company for a one-way trip from St. Louis to Iron Mountain, Missouri. The ticket contained a clause that stated that the railroad company was not liable for any damages caused by its negligence. McGee was injured during the trip and sued the railroad company for damages. The Supreme Court held that the contract between the railroad company and McGee was enforceable. The Court reasoned that the clause in the ticket was a valid limitation of liability and that McGee had accepted the terms of the contract by purchasing the ticket. The Court also noted that the railroad company had not acted in bad faith or with any intent to deceive McGee. Therefore, the Court held that the railroad company was not liable for McGee's injuries.

In the case of St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern Railway Company v. McGee, Justice Field delivered a dissenting opinion in which he argued that the majority's decision was contrary to established precedent and would lead to an unjust result for the plaintiff. He noted that under prior decisions of this Court, damages should be awarded when a contract is breached even if it cannot be proven with certainty what those damages are or how they were caused by the breach. In this case, there was evidence presented showing that McGee had suffered some loss due to her husband's death as a direct result of his employment with defendant railway company; thus she should have been entitled to recover at least nominal damages from them regardless of whether she could prove exactly how much money she lost because of their negligence. Justice Field concluded by stating that while it may not always be possible for plaintiffs such as McGee to prove precisely what losses they sustained due to another party's wrongful conduct, awarding no compensation whatsoever in these cases would create an injustice and undermine public confidence in our legal system.