In the case of The Lafayette Insurance Company v. Maynard French, Edward K. Strong, and Thomas B. Fine, the Supreme Court was asked to decide whether a contract between two parties could be enforced when one party had not been given proper notice of its terms before signing it. The plaintiff in error argued that they had provided adequate notice to all three defendants prior to entering into the contract with them; however, the court found that this was not sufficient for enforcing such an agreement as there were no witnesses present at any point during negotiations or execution of said document. As a result, they ruled against The Lafayette Insurance Company and held that none of their contracts with any defendant would be enforceable due to lack of proper notification beforehand.

Justice McLean delivered the dissenting opinion in this case. He argued that the plaintiff had failed to prove their claim of fraud against the defendants, as they had not provided sufficient evidence to support it. Furthermore, he noted that there was no proof that any of the parties involved were aware of or intended for any fraudulent activity to occur. In addition, Justice McLean stated that even if a fraud did take place, it would have been impossible for them to know about it prior to entering into an agreement with each other and thus could not be held liable for damages resulting from such activities. Finally, he concluded by noting that while courts should protect individuals from being taken advantage of through deceitful means, they must also ensure justice is served and innocent parties are not punished without due process or proper evidence presented before them.