William Robertson, Trustee of the Commercial Bank of Natchez, brought a case against Henry R. Coulter and James Richards, Executors of Joseph Collins who had passed away. The dispute revolved around whether or not the executors were liable for debts incurred by Collins prior to his death. Robertson argued that they should be held responsible as per Mississippi state law which stated that if an individual dies with outstanding debt then their estate is liable for repayment regardless of any other factors such as insolvency or lack thereof on behalf of the deceased's estate. The Supreme Court ultimately sided with Robertson in this case and ruled that Coulter and Richards were indeed liable to repay these debts from Collins' estate despite its insolvency at the time due to Mississippi state law regarding debt liability after death.

In this case, the Supreme Court was asked to decide whether a debt that had been assigned by Joseph Collins before his death could be collected from his executors. The majority opinion held that it could not, as the assignment of debt was invalid under Mississippi law. However, in dissent Justice McLean argued that the assignment should have been valid and enforceable against Collins' estate because it had already been accepted by Robertson prior to Collins' death. He further argued that even if there were some technical deficiencies in the form of transfer used for assigning the debt, these should not prevent its enforcement since both parties intended for it to take effect and Robertson had acted on it in good faith. Ultimately he concluded that allowing creditors such as Robertson to collect their debts would serve public policy interests better than denying them recovery due to minor technicalities or errors made when transferring ownership rights over those debts.