In the 1948 case of Lawson, Deputy Commissioner, United States Employees' Compensation Commission v. Suwannee Fruit & Steamship Co., the Supreme Court ruled on a dispute involving workers’ compensation for maritime employees. The issue at hand was whether an injury sustained by a longshoreman while working aboard a ship in navigable waters fell under state or federal jurisdiction for purposes of workers' compensation claims. The court held that such injuries were within federal jurisdiction as per the Longshoremen's and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act (LHWCA). This decision clarified that LHWCA applied to all injuries occurring upon navigable waters of the U.S., regardless if it occurred during employment connected with navigation or not. Therefore, even though Mr. Davis was injured while performing duties related to loading cargo onto ships – traditionally considered state-regulated work – his claim should have been processed under federal law.

In the dissenting opinion for Lawson v. Suwannee Fruit & Steamship Co., Justice Frankfurter disagreed with the majority's interpretation of the Longshoremen's and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act, arguing that it was not intended to cover injuries sustained on navigable waters outside a state’s territorial jurisdiction. He believed that Congress had deliberately limited its scope to avoid constitutional issues related to federalism and states’ rights. Furthermore, he argued that if Congress had intended such broad coverage, they would have explicitly stated so in the legislation. Therefore, he concluded that Mr. Calbeck’s injury did not fall under this act as it occurred while his ship was on navigable waters beyond Texas’s jurisdictional boundaries.