The Insurance Company of the Valley of Virginia brought a case against Moses C. Mordecai in which they sought to recover money from him for an unpaid debt. The company argued that Mordecai had signed a contract with them, and was thus liable for payment according to its terms. However, Mordecai countered that he had not actually signed the document himself but rather it was done by someone else on his behalf without his knowledge or consent. He also claimed that even if he did sign it, there were certain conditions attached to the agreement which rendered it invalid due to their unfulfillment at the time of signing. The Supreme Court ultimately ruled in favor of Mordecai and held that since he never personally agreed to any contractual obligations nor received any benefit from doing so, then no valid contract existed between him and the insurance company and therefore they could not seek recovery from him for nonpayment.

In this case, the Insurance Company of the Valley of Virginia (plaintiffs) argued that Moses C. Mordecai (defendant) had breached a contract by failing to pay premiums on an insurance policy he held with them. The defendant countered that his failure to pay was due to a clause in the policy which stated that if any premium became overdue, then all prior premiums would become immediately due and payable as well. The Supreme Court disagreed with both parties and found for neither; instead they determined that there was no breach because it could not be proven whether or not the defendant had received notice from the plaintiffs regarding their demand for payment before he failed to make payments on subsequent premiums. In dissent, Justice Grier argued against this decision stating that since it is clear from both parties' arguments what their intentions were when entering into this agreement, then those intentions should be respected regardless of technicalities such as lack of proof regarding notification requirements. He further maintained that even though there may have been some ambiguity in how these terms were written out in legal language, it does not change what each party intended when signing onto this contract and thus either side should be able to enforce its rights under said contract without being hindered by minor details like notification requirements