In the 1909 case of Will v. Tornabells, the United States Supreme Court addressed a dispute over property rights in New Orleans, Louisiana. The plaintiffs were heirs to an estate that included several lots of land which had been leased by their ancestor to one Mr. Tornabells for a term of ninety-nine years with an annual rent payment due. After some time, however, it was discovered that there was a mistake in the original lease agreement: instead of specifying "ninety-nine" years as intended, it said "nine". Despite this error being acknowledged by both parties and even corrected on subsequent leases for other properties between them, Mr. Tornabells refused to continue paying rent after nine years on these particular lots arguing he wasn't legally obligated per terms of the flawed contract. The court ruled against him stating that although mistakes can sometimes void contracts if they are significant enough or if they result from fraud or undue influence etc., none such conditions applied here since both parties knew what they meant when signing - i.e., ninety-nine not nine years - and acted accordingly until now; hence his sudden refusal is unjustified.

The dissenting opinion in the case of Will v. Tornabells, 1909 was not provided in the original court documents and therefore cannot be summarized.