In the case of Western Union Telegraph Company v. Boegli, 1919, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Western Union Telegraph Company. The dispute arose when a telegram sent by Mr. Boegli was not delivered on time due to an error made by the telegraph company's employee who misread and incorrectly transcribed the address from Milwaukee to Newark instead of New York. As a result, Mr. Boegli suffered financial loss as he could not execute his stock market orders on time and sued for damages. The court held that while it is true that negligence occurred on part of Western Union’s employee which resulted in delayed delivery, there were no grounds for liability because Mr. Boegli failed to declare at what value he estimated potential losses if any delay or mistake should occur during transmission or delivery as required under terms agreed upon between both parties (the sender and receiver). Therefore, since this requirement was not met by Mr.Boegli at time of sending his message via Western Union services; they cannot be held liable for consequential damages arising out such errors.

In the dissenting opinion for Western Union Telegraph Company v. Boegli, it was argued that the majority's decision to hold Western Union liable for damages due to a delay in delivering a death notice was incorrect. The dissenting justices believed that there should be no liability on part of the telegraph company as they had not been negligent and had followed their standard procedures. They pointed out that delays can occur naturally in such services and cannot always be prevented or predicted by the company. Furthermore, they contended that if every delay resulted in liability, it would create an unreasonable burden on telegraph companies which could potentially disrupt communication services nationwide.