In the Yazoo & Mississippi Valley Railroad Company v. Greenwood Grocery Company case of 1912, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Greenwood Grocery Company. The dispute arose when a fire broke out on one of Yazoo's trains and spread to nearby property owned by Greenwood, causing significant damage. The railroad company argued that they were not liable for damages because the fire was caused by sparks from their locomotive - an inherent risk associated with railway transportation which they claimed was beyond their control. However, the court disagreed with this argument stating that it is part of a railroad company’s duty to adopt all known and reasonable methods to prevent fires from spreading due to sparks or cinders emitted from its engines. Therefore, if such precautions are neglected and property is damaged as a result, then the company should be held responsible for those damages.

In the dissenting opinion for Yazoo & Mississippi Valley Railroad Company v. Greenwood Grocery Company, it was argued that the majority's decision to hold the railroad company liable for damages incurred by Greenwood Grocery due to a delay in shipment was incorrect. The dissenting justices believed that there were no grounds for holding the railroad company responsible as they had not violated any contractual obligations or acted negligently. They contended that delays are an inherent part of rail transportation and cannot always be avoided despite best efforts; therefore, unless specific guarantees about delivery times were made and subsequently broken, liability should not be assigned. Furthermore, they asserted that this ruling could set a dangerous precedent where carriers would constantly face litigation over unavoidable delays which could ultimately harm commerce.