The U.S. Supreme Court case Foremost Insurance Co. et al. v. Richardson et al., 1981, revolved around a boating accident that resulted in the death of two people and injury to another person on Lake Okeechobee, Florida. The main issue was whether federal maritime law or state law should apply since the lake is non-navigable for interstate commerce purposes but navigable in fact (i.e., it can be used for boating). The court ruled that federal admiralty jurisdiction extends to accidents on bodies of water like Lake Okeechobee which are navigable in fact even if they are not involved with interstate commerce, thus applying federal maritime law instead of state tort law to this case.

In the dissenting opinion for Foremost Insurance Co. et al. v. Richardson et al., Justice William Rehnquist disagreed with the majority's decision to extend admiralty jurisdiction to accidents involving pleasure boats on navigable waters, arguing that it was a departure from traditional principles of maritime law and an overreach by federal courts into state matters. He contended that historically, admiralty jurisdiction has been limited to commercial activities and public navigation concerns rather than private recreational boating incidents which have traditionally been handled under state law. He also expressed concern about the potential implications of this expansion on other areas such as aviation or land transportation where similar arguments could be made for extending federal jurisdiction based on interstate commerce or national interest considerations.