The United States Supreme Court case, UNITED STATES v. UTAH, NEVADA AND CALIFORNIA STAGE COMPANY in 1905 revolved around a dispute over the interpretation of a contract between the federal government and Utah, Nevada and California Stage Company for mail delivery services. The company had been contracted to deliver mail along specific routes within certain time frames but failed to meet these requirements on several occasions due to severe weather conditions. The government penalized the company by deducting amounts from its payments as stipulated in their contract for such failures. However, the stage company argued that it should not be held responsible for delays caused by "acts of God" or circumstances beyond its control like extreme weather events which made timely delivery impossible. The court ruled in favor of the US Government stating that unless explicitly stated otherwise in contracts with private entities, all risks including those arising from uncontrollable factors are assumed by contractors when they enter into agreements with public bodies.

In the dissenting opinion for United States v. Utah, Nevada and California Stage Company, Justice Harlan disagreed with the majority's interpretation of the Act of July 26, 1866. He argued that this act did not grant a right-of-way to stagecoach companies over public lands in general but only over those specifically designated as post roads by Congress or its authorized agents. According to him, it was erroneous to conclude that any road used for mail transportation automatically became a post road under federal law. Furthermore, he contended that even if such rights were granted implicitly through usage as mail routes, they would be limited strictly to purposes related directly to postal service operations and wouldn't extend broadly enough to include commercial passenger transport services provided by these stagecoach companies.