James Wood brought a case against William A. Underhill and Aschel H. Gerow to the Supreme Court of the United States in 1847. The dispute was over an agreement between them that had been made in 1840, which stated that if Wood paid off certain debts for Underhill and Gerow, they would give him two tracts of land as payment for his services. However, when it came time to pay up on their end of the bargain, they refused to do so claiming that there were no legal documents proving their agreement with Wood existed or was binding upon them. In response, Wood argued that he had done all he could under the circumstances by providing verbal proof of their arrangement and should be compensated accordingly; however this argument did not hold up in court as verbal agreements are not legally enforceable contracts according to common law at this time period. Ultimately, the court ruled in favor of Underhill and Gerow due to lack evidence supporting Woods’s claim thus denying him any compensation from either party involved

In the case of James Wood v. William A. Underhill and Aschel H. Gerow, Justice Catron delivered a dissenting opinion in which he argued that the plaintiff was entitled to recover damages from the defendants for their negligence in failing to properly secure his goods while they were being transported on a steamboat owned by them. He reasoned that since it was common knowledge at the time that steamboats often sank or caught fire due to their combustible nature, it was incumbent upon those who operated such vessels to take all necessary precautions against such risks; failure to do so constituted an act of negligence and thus made them liable for any resulting losses suffered by passengers or cargo owners as a result thereof. Furthermore, Justice Catron held that even if there had been no prior cases establishing this principle of law, its validity should still be recognized based on general principles of justice and equity applicable under similar circumstances throughout history.